А теперь, что пишут про долгожданный фильм на просторах интернетов.
Хоть публика и была удивлена недостатком сюрпризов в новой картине Миикэ, которая представляет собой отлично сделанное и снятое, но традиционное самурайское кино, он завоевал её симпатии привнеся в ленту достаточное количество ужасов и юмора.
В одной из сцен, главарю отряда убийц Синдзаэмону привозят молодую девушку, которой Нарицугу отрезал ноги, руки и язык, но она смогла написать "полное уничтожение", подтолкнув главного героя на путь отмщения.
За юмор в основном был ответственен герой Юсукэ Исэи - Коята, деревенщина, прикинувшаяся самураем, который сражался, используя пращу с камнями и критиковал самураев за высокомерие.
По словам Миикэ, он снял 13 убийц, чтобы познакомить молодежь с их прошлым.
"Действие происходит не в далеком прошлом, а в недавнем, когда жили наши прадеды," - сказал он репортерам в Венеции.
"Это наша история, история нашей ежедневной жизни. Это не чистая фантазия, хотя история и выдумана."
"Молодым людям не следует забывать о том, какой была действительность, в которой жили наши семьи."
"Я надеюсь, что, смотря этот фильм, молодые японцы смогут задуматься о недавнем прошлом, 50, 100 лет назад, и понять насколько изменилась Япония за это время."
Кровь с экрана льется с первых минут и практически не останавливается. Стрелой в упор пронзают ребенка, женщине отрезают руки и ноги, самурай делает харакири — «Квентин будет доволен», бормотал сидящий за корреспондентом КиноПоиска английский критик.
Рецензии на английском
HollywoodReporter, by Deborah Young:
Strangely enough, he opts to follow the genre's social code and dramaturgy almost slavishly, and the result is a beautifully lensed but rather unremarkable Japanese period piece. Its main market will be drawn from the male demographic of its native land, where the cast is all-star. Apart from viewers with a special interest in swords clashing in tedious, interminable battle, this looks like a hard sell.
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Variety, by LESLIE FELPERIN:
Pic's last 45 minutes or so basically offers one long battle scene as Shinzaemon and Naritsugu's posses square off in a town loaded with booby traps set by Shinzaemon's crew to even the 200-13 odds. Heads literally roll, but considering Miike's reputation for extreme gore, the violence is largely restrained. Swordplay throughout is gracefully executed, with Miike and editor Kenji Yamashita striking a judicious balance between closeups and long shots. Indeed, the film's staging makes consistent logical sense, providing a clear idea of what's going on where and who's who.
Most welcome of all, Miike proves here he can play it straight when he wants to, and while there's just enough humor to leaven the proceedings (especially when things are at their grimmest, often courtesy of the deliciously, near-satanically evil Naritsugu), there's no winking at the audience or any attempt to subvert the genre. That said, the sсript interjects a contempo sensibility by raising issue with the strict samurai code that calls for unconditional obedience to masters, even at the cost of what's best for the nation.
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UPD от 10-го сентября 2010:
Screen Daily, by Lee Marshall
Takashi Miike must be at least two people. The Japanese maverick averages between two and three films a year – and yet this last-man-standing samurai tale, his second release so far in 2010, is a confident, stylish swordplay feature played in a nicely jaded, ‘twilight of the gentleman warrior’ key, that bears little trace of haste. It takes a while to build through the occasionally dull and hard-to-follow historical exposition of the over-talky opening scenes. But once the Seven-Samurai-style band of brothers is assembled, 13 Assassins is pure pleasure: and it culminates in a magnificent 45-minute showdown that has to be the best final battle sequence in cinema since, oh, Kill Bill at least.
One likeable element of the tasty final showdown, all set in a mountain village that has been turned into a booby-trapped death chamber by the thirteen assassins, is the way it manages to balance spectacle with authenticity. Horses’ hooves squelch in the mud (one of several visceral sound effects), and the swordplay is gritty and messy, with blows being mis-hit and mis-timed as would happen in any real battle. Though blood flows in streams Miike keeps his penchant for sadistic ultra-violence in check, though there are severed heads and hari-kiris aplenty, and one pre-battle scene features a grotesque armless and legless victim of Lord Naritsugu.
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Time, by RICHARD CORLISS
The other is this churning, fairly traditional war drama set in the last days of the samurai. How can a dozen dedicated fighters, plus a crazy fellow who wanders into the action, overcome the attack of 200 professionals under the luridly evil Lord Naritsugu? Just watch! The good guys are aided by superior swordsmanship, a stampede of blazing cattle and more dynamite than was exploded in World War II. Miike calls this a "samurai terror film showing the flowers of life and death. Simple, radical, beautiful." Fans of the director know he always makes good on his promises.
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А тут одни чистые восторги. 
Боюсь предложение про Ямаду "film's true star" на самом деле про Юсукэ Исэю. С них станется попутать. %)) Жалко, конечно. %)
In Contention, by Guy Lodge
More brutal only in terms of actual bloodshed than “Black Venus,” but one hell of a lot more fun, Takashi Miike’s “13 Assassins” (***1/2) turned out to be one of the most unexpected joys of the Competition lineup: a straight-up, even classical, samurai spectacular that trades in bone-dry humor without placing itself entirely in genre-film quote marks. “You think the age of war was like this?” marvels one wide-eyed warrior, surveying the corpses left by a particularly vigorous round of ketchup-colored carnage. “It’s magnificent!”
That tone of slightly acid-tinged wonderment is consistent throughout this lavishly violent film, which charts a narrative course both highly convoluted and frankly incidental: the vast network of characters seems to keep procreating at a roughly equal pace to the body count, though it essentially boils down to two teams of good and evil, charismatically led by actors Koji Yakusho and Masachika Ichimura, respectively. (The film’s true star turn, however, comes from Takayuki Yamada, priceless as a peasant lad who joins the good guys despite his unmasked disdain for samurai culture.)
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UPD от 11-го сентября 2010:
Журналист Эмпаир сначала заскучал, но когда действие перенеслось в деревню для решающей схватки, воспрянул. Считает, что у Убийц есть шансы в этот викенд если не на главный приз, но что-нибудь да отхватить.
Empire, by Damon Wise
As soon as Naritsugu gets to the village, 13 Assassins becomes an exhilarating action movie, with an astonishing use of set design and space. Frankly, I was hoping for more gore and nastiness, and the use of CG (again!) disappointed me a couple of times, but Miike's film is still an adrenaline rush. And not only is it very funny – the samurai code is roundly pilloried – it's also surprisingly dignified, with Koji Yakusho stealing the show as Shinzaemon and Goro Inagaki indelible as the psychotic Naritsugu. At the start of the festival, it seemed like a long shot for any awards, but I think the cast and director might be in luck at the weekend. Maybe not for the top prize, but this is certainly more than just committed, intelligent and deftly executed genre fare.
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А автор этого ревью так доволен увиденным, что думает, что Убийцы не хуже Куросавовских Семи Самураев и более развлекательный, чем Расёмон, в свое время получившего Золотого льва. Для него это лучший фильм второй нелели фестиваля.
Obsessed with FILM, by ROBERT BEAMES
13 Assassins stand out as a well-made piece, worthy of its “in competition” status here at the festival. But the most important thing about the movie is that it is ridiculously exciting, thrilling fun. As soon as the credits rolled, I wanted to see it again. It is easily my second favourite film of the festival (the first still being Black Swan, by a slender hair). The end battle is a dizzying, fast-paced, high-octane, thrill-ride, which made me jump around in my seat like a hyperactive child (no mean feat at 8am). I was constantly surprised by each new turn in the battle, with loads of set-pieces the like of which I have never seen – and none of which I’ll spoil here.
I feel as though this film is almost as good as the greatest of them all: Seven Samurai.
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19.10.2010 в 22:2713 убийц получили Best Production Design и то ли Grand Audience Award (как пишет Токиограф), то ли Best Motion Picture (как репортил Твич), то ли обе сразу.
Рецензия с фестиваля, опубликованная на Твиче.
Twitch, by Guillem Rosset
I honestly think that 13 Assassins is one of the most interesting and best films of Miike in a lot of time, and it's certainly amongst my personal favorites. Pure jideaigeki as its best.
Еще фильм побывал в Ванкувере (29th Vancouver International Film Festival) 30 сентября - 15 октября в разделе Dragons and Tigers,
в Пусане (7-15 октября) в программе Window on Asian Cinema
и на Лондонском BFI 13-20 октября (Film on the Square).