June 30, 2012
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MOVIE REVIEW: 13 Assassins (2010)
GENRE: Foreign Martial Arts Movie
SUMMARY: 12 samurai warriors (and hunter) are tasked with the top secret mission of killing the cruel and psychopathic Shogun's brother who is in line to inherit the "throne".
REVIEW: It was a fun movie. Not great, but pretty good. It's essentially an entire movie leading up to one hour long fight scene. It borrows from the 7 Samurai and doesn't have vision of Kurosawa, but it was surprisingly well directed. The story telling is pretty decent and the camerawork quality enough to be impressive at times. Very violent, but still had a plot that moved forward. I would recommend it as a good quality samurai movie for those looking for more after working their way through Kurosawa's films (but don't expect the same quality). It is definitely geared as an action/martial arts movie so keep that in mind when forming your expectations.
DIRECTING & CAMERAWORK: 7/10
PLOT: 6/10
ACTING: 7/10
OVERALL: 7/10