13 Assassins (9/10)

This is everything an action movie should be! Where CGI and classic stunts occupy the same screen without over shadowing one another. Where the realistic nature meets the over the top mayhem. Where interesting characters make action worthwhile. "13 Assassins" is the best action movie I've seen this year and one of the best I've seen ever. Well if you count super hero movies as action movies then this is high on that list fighting "Captain America" for the top spot for best action movie of the year. Otherwise the only action movies I've seen this year are "The Mechanic", "Sucker Punch" and "Season of The Witch" None of those movies hold a candle to this one. "13 Assassins" is a fantastic and wildly entertaining rampage of action.

I'll start the praise by telling of a villain. Lord Naritsuga is one of the best villains in the action genre. He's transcended the role of a bad guy to a devil in a humans body. He believes that a lord can do what he wants with his subjects including raping any woman he sees and killing anybody while wearing a cold gaze. Every villain should be as intimidating as this man. The right hand man of the shogun contacts Shimada, a once great samurai to secretly kill Naritsuga. Shimada hears the vile stories the lord has done and recruits 12 other men to become assassins to the lord. The first 3/5 if the film builds up characters and show each bringing a special talent. So you have a "Oceans Eleven" vibe her as well which is always a good thing. The characters follow Shimada because they to believe in justice. That's part of the grand theme of the film, what honor and justice have to do with criminal acts of power bring. The final 45 minutes are an gung ho sequence. A massive battle between the thirteen assassins and the numerous bodyguards happens in a small village. It's as much a remake of the original film as it is a tribute to "Seven Samurai" Either way the final battle is one for the history books under the section "awesome". This is exactly what I was looking for in an action movie and I could not have loved it more.

9/10
Recommendation: Fantastic action movie if you want to see one. It's in Japanese of course but that won't make it any less great. The finale you'll forget what language it's in because it's so epic. After watching "Bridesmaids", "Friends With Benefits" and "Easy A", this was exactly what I needed. While I liked those three (hell loved the first one), this was the movie I needed to break me away from such type of movies and diversify it up.