|
|
 |
13 Assassins
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Magnolia Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Andy James & Noor Razzak (22nd August 2011). |
|
The Film
 Takashi Miike is the chameleon of Japanese cinema; he’s made Yakuza films, a radioactive zombie musical, horror films and a noodle Western. And those are only the films I’ve seen! The man, whatever your opinion of him may be, is a machine of cinema digesting and creating on his own terms. "13 Assassins", title aside, feels like the biggest departure from what you may consider a “Takashi Miike film” yet. He’s going for something epic but that still acknowledges its genre roots. Told in a measured pace, the film is set in mid-19th Century Japan. It is the Age of Peace; the samurai are becoming obsolete but still hold an important function. The land is ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate but the adopted youngest step-brother of the Shogun is a ruthless, unrepentant and sadistic psychopath. In protest at his degenerate ways, one of the leading samurai commits hara-kiri (a brutal opening to the film) in front of his lord’s house. This sets off a chain of events that culminates with Sir Doi (Mikijiro Hira) asking samurai Shimada Shinzaemon (Kôji Yakusho) to assemble a group of assassins to kill this errant lord on his annual pilgrimage to his homeland, before he can amass too much power in Edo (Tokyo). This is all complex, palace-intrigue type stuff and it all looks like it’s been shot with the natural light available: late night plotting and debate sessions are held in beautiful flickering candlelight, people coming in and out of the shadows. Shinzaemon assembles his hand-picked band of assassins, just like "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), and they partake in what seems to be an inordinate amount of waiting around. But Miike is using this time to explore those themes of brotherhood, honour, justice and death that preoccupy the samurai. Once they are on this path there are only two outcomes: success and death. But it’s not all serious faced samurai pontificating as Miike brings moments of his humour into the film, lightening the mood in just right the places and allowing us to see these characters as people. Though there are 12 (plus a later addition) of the assassins, the degenerate Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira (Gorô Inagaki) and his master samurai Hanbei (Masachika Ichimura) and more, they all have some definition, some moment to stand out. Hanbei, though the main obstacle standing in the way, is a sympathetic character; an honourable samurai disgusted by his dishonourable lord but duty-bound to die for him. And there is a lot of death; these are all men wielding big sharp swords after all. And Miike takes more than a moment to acknowledge the reality of duels, of fighting for your very life. In the midst of a battle, the rules of the dojo no longer matter. The only winner is the one who vanquishes their opponent, even if they do not survive. And this is a small band of samurai against impossible odds: their opponents number in the hundreds, while they barely number in the teens. So they have to be smart about it, and the curiosity of how they’re going to pull it off adds to the already growing tension. The final confrontation between the two forces in a fortified village is true carnage unleashed. Again, I have to mention the hour-long assault of Chicago in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (2010) as a comparison and contrast to this. Where Bay’s robo-smash had disconnected characters and action scenes that fell flat, Miike has crafted a huge sequence where every character is seen, with a clear motivation and where the whole has a clear structure and pace. The lack of visible CGI (aside from one incredibly obvious use) also lends everything a real weight: there are huge moving walls, arrows raining death from above, flaming bulls, exploding houses, alleyways lined with swords and good ol’ fashioned hack ‘n’ slash. "13 Assassins" is a measured, often beautiful film that I would actually enjoy seeing again (and hopefully on the big screen). You may find the first section of the film a drag and may not enjoy the strange comedic touches, but that final action sequence is a huge release and worth the wait. The version of the film presented on this Blu-ray release from Magnolia/Magnet is the shorter "International Version" of the film that runs for 125 minutes 9 seconds.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.40:1 this image is delivered onto Blu-ray in HD 1080p 24/fps and mastered using AVC MPEG-4 compression. The film's luscious photography is captured beautifully with this HD image that displays sharpness, depth, detail and texture in unparalleled excellence. The colors are bold and lush, blacks are deep and bold, grain is light and adds that filmic look we love so much. The image is clean and features no compression flaws, no edge-enhancement or any dirt that I can spot of any kind. Furthermore skin tones are nice and natural, and the textures look solid adding depth and clarity to the HD image. Overall we got a solid image transfer that'll look good on almost every full HD screen... just make it a nice big one to take it all in!
Audio
Two audio tracks are included in a dubbed English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as the original Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround also mixed at 48kHz/24-bit. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its original Japanese audio. Much like the image the audio is equally impressive. This film's scope is epic and the audio matches that perfectly, with a rich and robust mix that'll offer viewers an incredible audio experience and its movies like this that make lossless audio worth it. Dialogue is clear and distortion free, ambient sounds are natural and subtle with the surrounds always in use and more so during the battle scenes, arrows rain down on you, slashes from swords are dramatic and powerful, every aspect of this audio track is aggressive and brilliant, it's a sound mix that matches the beauty and brutality of the image, simply put, it's a terrific audio track. Optional subtitles are included in English, English Narration, English for the hearing impaired and Spanish.
Extras
Sadly there aren't that many extras on this release, included are some deleted scenes, an interview, the film's original theatrical trailer, a collection of bonus trailers and a digital copy version of the film. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up are a collection of deleted scenes (1080p) that runs for 18 minutes 14 seconds, I can't say for certain that all the scenes presented here are the trimmed scenes from the original longer cut, however one can make the assumption that they are. The scenes are additional moments, extensions and transitions if you will that offer a bit more depth to some existing moments in the film. They are worth exploring. Next up is an interview with director Takashi Miike (1080p) that runs for 18 minutes 43 seconds, the director comments on various aspects of the film and its final action sequence that'll leave you breathless. The comments on working with the cast and the challenges. While certainly a welcomed addition to the disc I would have preferred an audio commentary. The film's original theatrical trailer (1080p) is also included and runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. The disc also features some bonus trailers (1080p) for the following: - "Hobo with a Shotgun" which runs for 1 minute 27 seconds. - "Rubber" which runs for 2 minutes 17 seconds. - "Troll Hunter" which runs for 1 minute 24 seconds. - "The Perfect Host" which runs for 2 minutes 20 seconds. - "HDNet Promo" which runs for 1 minute 2 seconds. A digital copy is available with use of a redemption code.
Packaging
Packaged in a Blu-ray case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
The film review was originally published on the blog Rockets and Robots are Go! by Andy James. The Blu-ray specs were reviewed by Noor Razzak.
|
|||||
|