The promise of 13 Assassins is a final act that showcases some of the best, most innovative, most brutal fighting that the screen has seen. Everything leads up to it – from the introduction of the 13, to the steel-headed conversations between former allies turned enemies, to the preparation of a small town that the assassin’s leader vows to turn into a killing field. Everything leads up to it, and it delivers. It delivers with such intensity that it’s hard to breath, that it’s difficult not to stand up and cheer, that a little bad CGI doesn’t ruin the ridiculous flaming weapon that the CGI is meant to create. Fortunately, the build up to the final act is beautiful in its own right. The whole experience is brilliant and deadly. In the waning days of the samurai, an evil lord rapes young women, kills on a whim, and plans on delivering war back to the peaceful nation. Since he’s the Shogun’s younger brother, he’s above the law. However, he’s not above being killed by a band of assassins hired by a senior government official to take out the lord and leave his head somewhere in the dirt of the Japanese countryside.

The trailer for Miike’s latest film has hit the web, and I have to admit it looks pretty damn good. The prolific director has a habit of working fast and cheap (and many of his flicks suffer for it), but Thirteen Assassins looks like a larger scale production than he’s used to.

Takashi Miike is making a samurai film. Will it suck like Sukiyaki Western Django… or like the breast-fed family in Visitor Q?