Started out great. The build up was handled assuredly and promised greatness, but then it began to degrade little by little.
**SPOILERS**
Things I didn't like:
- CGI bulls on fire. Not so much the idea of it, just that it was poorly rendered
- Battle was TOO long at the end. I like action just fine, but I don't need 30+ mins of it in a row.
- Not enough build up to the battle. I wanted a little bit character development for "the 13". Only a few of them received this. Also we didn't see the samurai building these gigantic sliding branch walls or preparing the village for battle. I suppose that In a film where we see every other step of their journey, this element felt skipped over. I guess the director's cut is 15 mins longer; perhaps it restores some of this.
- The particularly gory (rock head bash), shaky/sideways cam scene felt out of place.
- This is more of a technical gripe, but the overly artificial, clearly Foley'd sword swipes, punches and other "action!" noises really took me out of the battle.
- The ending...I liked that there was a bit of a quiet moment for the coda, after all the fighting had finished, but I thought it was more than a few beats too long.
- Overall, it just felt too much like 'Seven Samurai', which was the influence for the original 'Thirteen Assassins' (1963).
I thought about giving the film ***1/2, but it just didn't quite get there for me.
Only ***, huh? I was thoroughly entertained by this movie.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, this is 5 star material all the way.
ReplyDeleteStarted out great. The build up was handled assuredly and promised greatness, but then it began to degrade little by little.
ReplyDelete**SPOILERS**
Things I didn't like:
- CGI bulls on fire. Not so much the idea of it, just that it was poorly rendered
- Battle was TOO long at the end. I like action just fine, but I don't need 30+ mins of it in a row.
- Not enough build up to the battle. I wanted a little bit character development for "the 13". Only a few of them received this. Also we didn't see the samurai building these gigantic sliding branch walls or preparing the village for battle. I suppose that In a film where we see every other step of their journey, this element felt skipped over. I guess the director's cut is 15 mins longer; perhaps it restores some of this.
- The particularly gory (rock head bash), shaky/sideways cam scene felt out of place.
- This is more of a technical gripe, but the overly artificial, clearly Foley'd sword swipes, punches and other "action!" noises really took me out of the battle.
- The ending...I liked that there was a bit of a quiet moment for the coda, after all the fighting had finished, but I thought it was more than a few beats too long.
- Overall, it just felt too much like 'Seven Samurai', which was the influence for the original 'Thirteen Assassins' (1963).
I thought about giving the film ***1/2, but it just didn't quite get there for me.
I'd like to see the original.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057212/