13 Assassins" against an Army of Hundreds

Miike Takashi's "13 Assassins" (Magnolia/Magnet), a kind of outlaw "The Seven Samurai" by way of "The Dirty Dozen" set at the sunset of the Shogunate and the samurai era, is something different from Japan's maverick auteur Miike: a startlingly traditional samurai action piece that shows that he can indeed color between the lines. Which is not to say it isn't violent. The final third of the film, which pits the baker's dozen of loyal soldiers and samurai fighters hungry for honorable battle against the overwhelming forces of a depraved Lord, is a fluid and flashy piece of furious samurai action. Miike constructs a terrific set of tricks and traps, barbed walls that shoot out of buildings to divide and confuse and create mazes for these warriors, and weapons cached everywhere for the 13 heroes to take on an army of 200. It's just that it is, at least by Miike's standards, somewhat restrained, if only in attitude.

Yakusho Koji is all loyal purpose as the leader of this secret surgical strike, launched behind the Shogun's back to protect the empire, and Iseya Yusuke provides the comic relief as a peasant forest hunter and guide, the ringer who makes up the thirteenth member and jumps into the fray with stones, sticks, slings and fists. But there's no satire under the spectacle. Miike takes the codes of honor, the contradictions of the code and the idea that life is defined by the mode of one's death at face value and delivers a film that mourns the men and the end of the era with obligatory regret, acknowledging the ironies without pushing them to the extremes that one expects.

Which gives us a superbly executed but straightforward men on a mission film where the increasingly outmoded ideals of duty and honor and meaning through sacrifice are at the heart of the matter. Fans of Miike may be surprised by his restraint. Fans of the genre will be delighted that restraint for Miike is action madness by anyone else's measure.

The DVD features an interview with director Miike Takashi and deleted scenes. The Blu-ray also features a bonus digital copy.

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The Green Hornet

The Green Hornet
Principle Actors: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz
Directed by: Michel Gondry
My Rating: 3/5

I was actually quite disappointed in this movie. I gave it a higher rating than it probably deserves, mainly because of Jay Chou. He played his character well, had depth and timing. By far the best acting in the entire movie.

Seth Rogen was a major disappointment. Almost all of his attempted humor relied on latent homosexual Freudian slips. There were so many of them that one began to wonder if the character was actually a closeted gay. Rogen's character was also totally unlikable. First, he was a total idiot. Second, he was a major chauvinist. His treatment of both Chou's and Diaz's character were atrocious. And the worst part of it is, they apparently thought it was funny.

There was one scene in which Kato and Reid got into a fight. I found myself thinking, "Yeah! Give it to him Kato! Beat the crap out him! Teach him a lesson!" And this character is supposed to be the hero of the movie, the one everyone is rooting for! If the movie had focused more on Kato, it would have been much better.

The action was.... pretty good. Could have been better. The finale, which takes place in the building where the newspaper is run, was absolutely ridiculous. And not in a good way. I actually hung my head in shame for everyone involved in that particular scene.

I suppose the finale struck a nerve that's been bothering me for some time with regards to action scenes. There's no reality left in them anymore! There's no thought of collateral damage, no rational thinking. If you've got a character, based in the real world, shouldn't they be constrained by real world thinking? For example, if someone is trying to escape in a car, would they really make the decision to drive through glass windows and through the lobby of a building? Or put that car on an elevator? Or try to drive said car after the back end was chopped off by the rising elevator?

I love action movies. I do. I love the explosions, the car chases, the gun fights, the fist fights, sword battles, and ninja-ike skills of the heros and villains. But, there is a point when it goes from really awesome (something that's totally crazy but still in the realm of possibility), to just laughably ridiculous (a la The A-Team and The Green Hornet).

What I would love to see is a totally new Green Hornet. One with a main character that isn't such a douchbag. Failing that, it could focus more on Kato. And please, more reality less stupidity in the action sequences.

My recommendation: Skip the theater, maybe rent it or just wait for it to hit the small screen.

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Predators

Release Date: July, 9 2010
Description: A group of elite warriors are hunted by members of a merciless alien race known as Predators. (via imdb.com)
Principle Actors: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne
Directed By: Nimrod Antal
My Rating: 2/5

Predators is not about what you might think it’s about. Yes, it is another installment in the “Predator” franchise, but in this particular movie the title does not refer to the alien race. Instead, it refers to the men (and woman), that are subjected to the aliens.
It is hinted in the previews that the people are in some sort of game preserve. They are indeed exotic game, gathered for the benefit of the alien race, to be hunted. The one thing they all have in common: they themselves are predators. Each individual was “imported” because of their abilities to hunt and kill.

My hat’s off to whoever came up with the “men as predators” concept, because as lame as the movie may have been, it was actually quite clever.

On to the movie! It was lame. I give it a 2 out of 5. It’s not a complete and total fail. I mean, hey, Adrien Brody, the oddly sexy hero, is...well... oddly sexy. Normally I applaud his performances because he is actually quite a talented actor. And something about him is *very* appealing.... However, this is one performance that just doesn’t stand up.
Brody affects a voice that just isn’t natural, growling out his lines. There’s a time and a place for growly voice, but this soo wasn’t it. I know he wanted to come across as tough, but it was forced, so it just didn’t work.

The dialogue was laughable. Literally. I laughed at lines and places where I knew I wasn’t supposed to be laughing.

Really, the only part of the movie that held any kind of interest was Laurence Fishburne’s part and scene. His character was definitely interesting. He gave the role just enough sanity to keep the character dangerous but also just enough insanity to make him likable and maybe a little harmless as well.

Special effects and costumes for the aliens were good, but then again, they never would have slacked on that count. The alien camp site was very well done. It looked like any hunters camp I would imagine: same amount of creepiness, just different “animals.”
All in all, it’s a movie I would skip unless you are really bored or you have a thing for one of the actors.


Just for the heck of it:

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