Japanese purveyor of the weird and wonderful Takashi Miike was responsible for not one but two great remakes of this decade, his low-key retelling of Harikiri accompanied by the considerably more epic 13 Assassins. A remake of Eiichi Kudo's 1963 movie of the same name, 13 Assassins has a deceptive first act which feels similarly paced to the dialogue-driven Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai. It's highly reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's samurai classic The Seven Samurai: once the team of assassins have been assembled and set off on their mission, the dialogue gives way for some of the most impressively staged battle scenes you're likely to see. The undercurrent of perversity expected in a Miike movie is present in the film's central antagonist Lord Naritsugu, who rapes, tortures and dismembers anyone who displeases him, but with 13 Assassins the director doesn't wallow in this as much as he's prone to in the past. Honour, chivalry and lots and lots of swordplay are the driving forces at work. What other great remakes have you seen so far this decade? Why not tell us about them in the comments?
