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<div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.2/16668?ns=guardian&pageName+Assassins+*+review%3AArticle%3A1553776&ch=Film&c3=Guardian&c4=Film%2CAction+and+adventure+%28Film+genre%29%2CDrama+%28Film+genre%29%2CCulture&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CFilm+Reviews&c6=Steve+Rose&c7-May-05&c853776&c9=Article&c10=Review&c11=Film&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FFilm%2FAction+and+adventure" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins musters nearly twice as many swordsmen as Kurosawa's Seven Samurai – and is about two-thirds as good</p><p>Over the past decade, director Takashi Miike has churned out gleefully extreme films Audition, Ichi the Killer and Visitor Q, but it's difficult to detect much subversion in this sober, classical effort (remade from a 1963 original).  13 Assassins musters nearly twice as many swordsmen as Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and is about two-thirds as good, although it delivers the requisite genre thrills. Those only really come in the final, cathartic 45 minutes. Before that, it's all moody set-up: trusted warrior Kôji Yashuko assembles a force to halt the rise of a bloodthirsty young lord who dismembers women for kicks. When they finally ambush his 200-man retinue, in a deserted village, it's a virtuoso succession of traps, explosives, arrows, incendiary cattle and gracefully choreographed, admittedly credibility-stretching, swordfights. As for the outcome, let's just say there's more need for an undertaker than a first-aid kit. Miike's quest for respectable maturity seems to be working though; his follow-up, another samurai movie, is in competition at this year's Cannes film festival.</p><p class="rating">Rating: 3/5</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/actionandadventure">Action and adventure</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/drama">Drama</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/steverose">Steve Rose</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" />
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<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/may/05/13-assassins-review">Link</a>