After spending the past few months writing a dissertation on the legendary Japanese film maker Akira Kurosawa, perhaps I am a bit more susceptible to Japanese cinematic exports at the moment. The other day I saw the trailer for 13 Assassins, a remake of Eiichi Kudo's 1963 black-and-white epic of the same name, Jûsan-nin no shikaku.
Directed by Takashi Miike, esteemed gore merchant and director of Ichi the Killer (2001) and Audition (1999), 13 Assassins looks like a return to the Samurai epic of the early days. What is clear from the trailer is the films lack of CGI, a bold move to make in a market inundated with computer generated effects and 3D technology.
If this remake follows suit with the original story, the basic premise of the film will be as follows:
Set at the end of Japan's feudal era, an evil young lord rapes and kills as he pleases, assured of immunity by law. A force of 13 assassins, comprised of former Samurai, Ronin (masterless Samurai) and a hunter, undertake a suicide mission to wipe out the Lord. As he embarks on a perilous journey, the assassins close off his escape route and ambush him in a village. But little do they know, they are outnumbered almost twenty to one by the Lord's crack team of bodyguards.
I will be seeing the film tomorrow, after which I will research some of the cast and crew, as well as gather some quotes for the review. The target publication for this review will be Empire magazine. It will be a two-to-three-page feature, similar to the feature reviews Empire showcases in each issue, and will have a word count of around 1000.
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