Samurai Assassin (I) (1965) User Reviews

Slowly paced Chambara film that packs a punch.

[massaster760 · 8/10 · 8 July 2007]

The year is 1860 and Japan is in a very unstable place. A time when the 300 year rule of the Shogunate was drawing to a close, an event which would simultaneously bring Imperialism to Japan and cause the death of the Samurai age. This is the setting of Samurai Assassin, a highly complicated, and character driven Chambara film that is shot in brilliant black and white. It also features one of Toshiro Mifune's best performances, as well as an astounding ending battle sequence that's just too cool for words.

Mifune plays Niiro Tsuruchiyo, a master-less samurai who joins forces with the multiple clans against the Lord of Hikone, Sir Li Kamonnokami Naosuke. Li is the right hand of the shogunate and brought upon himself the wrath of the Satsuma, Mito, and Choshuu provinces after making an unpopular choice for the appointment of the 14th shogunate. Many critics arouse after the controversial appointment, and Li initiated the Ansei Purge to quiet critics of his choices. This in turn, lead to an assassination plot hatched by the three provinces in order to remove Li from his position of power. Here enters Mifune, who wants to help the clans, in order to become a samurai of the Mito house. If that's not enough, the clans have their own problems too trying to weed Li's spies out of the plot. Which results in a film full of intrigue, espionage, underhanded dealings, and of course assassinations. If all this sounds complicated...it's because it is.

Looking past the intricate plot of Samurai Assassin and the film is basically a detailed character study of Mifune's Niiro. Much of the film deals with his mysterious past and is told through flashbacks, both as first hand accounts and through investigative processes headed by the clan who is trying to distinguish the followers from the spies. This serves as both a negative and a positive for Assassin. While it helps develop Mifune's character (and he's excellent as always), it also slows the film to a tedious pace. Also hidden in Niiro's past is a long story of forbidden love. The films first hour concerns itself mostly with these issues, while the second half slowly builds to an incredibly brutal finale.

Bottom line- Samurai Assassin takes it's time to get where it's going, but when it arrives at its destination it redeems the films minor shortcomings. The finale is a brutal scene filmed in swirling clouds of snow and features an dizzying, blood soaked, action packed conclusion sure to satisfy any Chambara fan.

Dull; that is, up until the final sequence

[zetes · 7/10 · 20 April 2002]

I am rather disappointed in Kihachi Okamoto's Samurai Assassin. I am a huge fan of his 1966 film, Sword of Doom, which is, as far as I'm concerned, the best "pure" samurai film, at least on the same level as anything by Kurosawa. Samurai Assassin was made the previous year. It is about a siege around Edo castle, and concentrates on one warrior, played by Toshiro Mifune, who desperately wants to become a samurai. He has been turned down in the past, though, because his mother was a geisha and his father was unknown.

The script is the main culprit here. It's far too slow, and far too many names are dropped. For an American, anyway, it becomes increasingly difficult to process so many multi-syllabic Japanese names. Eventually, I didn't care at all about what was happening. Okamoto was obviously trying to go for the type of slow-build that was achieved, for example, in Misaki Kobayashi's excellent Sepukku (aka Hara-kiri, 1962), but the script is far too wordy.

For most of the 2 hour 2 minute run, I was just concentrating on the beautiful cinematography. The black and white in this film is truly exquisite. A few good scenes managed to pop up here and there. Fortunately, Samurai Assassin ends on a fantastic note. The final samurai battle is one of the best I've ever seen. Okamoto uses snow as a prop as well as Kurosawa uses rain (there is a great snow battle in Sword of Doom, as well), and the level of dramatic irony equals some of the best Greek tragedies. My final judgement: Samurai Assassin is worth watching if you are a fan of samurai movies, but it is not a high priority. It is definitely a don't-see for anyone who has never seen one of these films before (start with Kurosawa, The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Hidden Fortress for starters) or anyone who is unsure of whether they would be entertained by something like this. 7/10.

This is one rare samurai movie starting Samurai Legend, Toshiro Mifune.

[ironhorse_iv · 8/10 · 19 May 2013]

I don't think a lot of people have saw this movie. It's not all chanbara or 'sword fighting' film nor it's it a Jidaigeki, a periodic film with little to no fighting. It's more balance than that. It's not well known film. Still, it's worth checking out. The film has this an ancient Greek tragedy feel to the film filled with heartrending irony and a sense of unavoidable doom. I think Samurai Assassin is just as amazing piece of Toshiro Mifune's work as Seven Samurai (1955) & Yojimbo (1961). Yes, it wasn't directed by Akira Kurosawa, but Director Kihachi Okamoto did an amazing job with this film. The fight scenes in this movie are just brutal. The film is one of the first to embrace the blood splattering violence in samurai films. The way he shot the bloody snowy fight scene is just beautiful that probably influence a lot of future directors such as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. It helps that the black & white Tohoscope was from Hiroshi Murai, one of the greatest Japanese cinematographers. Samurai Assassin is set in 1860, where feudalism is near its end due to the Meiji Restoration. The event changed Japanese society forever by doing away with the castes in society and reducing the position of the samurai class. By removing samurai out of power, Tsurichiyo Nirro (Toshiro Mifune) felt that an assassination of Ii Naosuke (Hakuô Matsumoto) is needed as Ii Naosuke is the one pushing for change. Niiro Tsurichiyo is the illegitimate son of a powerful nobleman, and loose Ronin social outcast wanting to have a Samurai status. Seeing the Lord of Hikone, Sir Ii Kamonnokami Naosuke as a threat to his dream. He join forces with multiple clans from the Satsuma, Mito, and Choshuu provinces to take him out. Tension builds as the assassins wait day after day for the perfect moment to take out their target. Il Naosuke continue to tempt them, by making more and more unpopular choices, such like appointment of the 14th shogunate and initiated the Ansei Purge to quiet critics of his choices. While the backstory unfolds slowly, the hack and slash action takes a backseat, so the movie gives a traitor within the assassins plot. By doing this, it gives a new sense of direction, as Nirro Tsurichiyo is unsure who to trust. He finds out that the samurais around him, are not as nobility like he think before joining them, as they act more like a murderous gang. In one powerful scene in the middle of the film, Nirro Tusirchiyo break down after engages his best friend, Kurihara (Keiju Kobayashi), is a sad moment. The stress builds as there is more at stake here that their own lives. The director made the right decision to take his time and allow character development! The film is based on a novel, which in turn was inspired by the historical event known as the Sakuradamon incident. The faults of the film are this, while the narration is great in the film, I doubt it was needed. Another sub-plot not needed was the lost-love relationship as I felt it slow the movie down. All the flashbacks are not needed as it make the story confusing. Another big mistake of the film is how it was film, letter-boxing. It's really hard to see when watching it on DVD. At less, the movie is sub-title by AnimEigo. Kinda wish it was Criterion who did that as the sub-titled go really too quickly rather than allowing people to read it. Anyways overall: if you like old school Samurai movies, give this film a watch. This is a must see for any Toshiro Mifune fan.

Brilliant, Disturbing, Fascinating Film

[dorlago · 10/10 · 5 September 2001]

Everything about this movie is powerful! The acting, the direction, the music and the cinematography are Japanese cinema at its best! I usually don't like narration but the narration in this film is awesome. The only thing I can compare it to is the sound of an Uzi being fired! Mifune, at his best, conveys brilliantly the complexities of the samurai/ronin mentality! The film moves frantically through time! Sometimes it is hard to tell past from present but the entire production is so well done that it all makes perfect sense if you just pay attention! This is one of the most brutal Japanese films I have ever seen. The final confrontation takes place in a snow storm and the comparison between the softly falling snow and the bloody battle it is falling on is chilling and surreal! Unlike some of these older films the transfer to video is clear as a bell with easy to read (if a bit hurried) subtitles.

Okamoto comes close but ultimately misses greatness with Samurai Assassin...

[chaos-rampant · 18 July 2008]

Samurai Assassin is a tricky film. It tries to balance neatly between the chambara and jidai-geki. As a jidai-geki it falls close to Masaki Kobayashi's amazing masterpieces Seppuku and Samurai Rebellion in its resemblance of an ancient Greek tragedy filled with tragic irony and a sense of inescepable doom. On the chambara front it takes a while to deliver but when it does, it's all guns blazing; the final fight in the snow ranks as one of the greatest battle sequences in 60's samurai cinema.

What hampers Samurai Assassin is both the very convoluted plot (even by jidai-geki standards) and the narration that should have been skipped altogether (especially in the ending). The plot although well constructed may suffer under close scrutiny. Of course nothing a little suspension of disbelief can't solve. Still, it devotes too much time and detail to subplots and flashbacks that ultimately detract from its goal: building momentum for the final confrontation (both physical and emotional). Tsuruchiyo's backstory for example is spread over 30 minutes and while it gives a solid foundation to the character, you can't help but wonder what it has to do with the first half hour. It all clicks together at some point but it would have benefited immensely from tighter plotting (20 could have been clipped). Less detail, narration and names-dropping, more visualization.

No matter. Samurai Assassin is still a decent film with some memorable scenes. It starts to pick up steam after the 70 minute mark and finishes on a spectacular note. The final battle in the snow is a marvel to look at and features some top notch swordfighting, with Toshiro Mifune simply owning every frame with his impeccable physical skills. It's a very bleak and ironic ending however; there's no valliance or social status to be gained for Mifune's character. I don't want to spoil it any further cos it's easily the best part of the movie.

Okamoto, a great chambara director of the 60's, was well on his way to bigger and better things. Just one year later, Sword of Doom would go on to become one of the best Japanese movies of all time. Three years later, the thoroughly enjoyable Kiru! would add some tongue-in-cheek spirit to Okamoto's often nihilistic style. Still, Samurai Assassin is a welcome addition to his ouevre that might not be excellent and thus not a good entry point to both Okamoto and the jidai-geki but it's recommended to genre fans.

First-class Film

[smarth_bali · 9/10 · 13 December 2005]

A first-class film that excels in script, cinematography and acting. It is difficult to name a lot of films that are so well conceived of and executed. The plot is amazing and the twists are well-crafted. The narrator seems an imposition at the start but as the film progresses it only adds to the mood. I found the movement (pace) of the film delightful, juxtaposed between the swift and the languid. Of course, for most of us outside the idiom of Japanese cinema the acting maybe described as melodramatic, but that's pretty much the norm there. And how can anyone not comment on the film's last scene - the snow, the blood, the twist of fate, the camera moves like an assassin itself. I highly recommend it.

Convoluted Plot and Too Much Talk Drag Down An Otherwise Well-Made Film

[MogwaiMovieReviews · 6/10 · 21 August 2021]

There are moments in this film that are up there alongside the best Japanese films have to offer, with wonderfully evocative black & white shots of parasols in the snow and well-staged fight scenes. The cast are all fine, and Mifune especially is as great as ever, but there is far too much narration slathered over an overcomplicated plot, which slows down the story and makes connecting to and caring about the events harder than it need be. Still a handsome example of Japanese cinema at its peak.

Irony at it's best

[Prophet-9 · 9/10 · 6 September 1999]

I bought this film about a year ago and just got the opportunity to watch it last night. This film was beautiful brutality, simplistic complexity, unjust justice, and traditional tragedy. The sword duels are quick and brutal, the battle scene is long and horrific. The film jumps through time and space at a frantic pace with out warning. And yet the plot is slowly revealed through the hurried pace. I highly recommend this film that examines the complex psyche of Norii the Ronin. My only warning is that there is a lot of dialogue and it wears a little thin at some times. And the subtitles go by so fast at times it calls for some rewinding. The action is so fast in some parts you will want to watch in freeze frame. One scene looked so real, I would almost swear that they actually had to kill the guy. Go see this film now.

A good samurai film

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 7/10 · 21 July 2023]

Samurai Assassin is a slow and steady film, but I mostly liked it overall. It's about a complex historical event that mostly focuses on an assassination attempt, particularly leading up to it, and the ferocious battle it culminated in. It condenses quite a lot into just two hours, and had narration which helped. Some may find it overbearing or even intrusive, but I fear I would've been lost without it, in all honesty (and admitting that at the risk of sounding stupid).

There isn't tons of action, but the action there is here delivers (much like the similarly bleak Harakiri, which could be called a samurai movie, but not really an action movie). Also, Toshiro Mifune is fantastic, in the lead role (as expected, seeing as he never seemed to phone it in).

Samurai classic

[colaya · 10/10 · 16 August 2015]

I guess it's a mystery why this film is not well-known. As I write this, there are only other 1,338 IMDb users that have rated it. A small group of fortunate viewers. If you have not seen it and you are reading this---perhaps you are exploring the possibility because of some samurai or classic movie interest?---then just watch it. It's just impossible to like classic samurai action and not to love this movie. And if you are new to classic samurai movies, this is a good start. All major ingredients are here.

But if you need reasons. Well, what's not to like? Mifune at his best. The beautiful cinematography of Okamoto. An all-star cast from every major samurai movie (the only one missing is Nakadai). Political intrigue in the decay period of the samurai cast. A series of Rashomon-like flashbacks for learning, slowly, the dimensions of a tragedy. Spectacular samurai action in the snow. A drum that beats, slowly, fate. And endless themes to think about: fate vs. caprices of life, love vs. duty, friendship vs. personal ambition, the quest for finding ourselves a place in the world, and so and so.

The other mystery is the rating of this movie. It should be above 8,0 by all means, to say the least. I disagree with other reviewers that talk about a "convoluted" plot. I found the plot easy to follow, despite the names involved. And the director is very efficient and artistic for delivering the story in a 2-hour mark. It just needs to build tension for the great finale. It's a matter of enjoying.

Note to self, watch more Okamoto

[DanTheMan2150AD · 8/10 · 22 June 2023]

The way that Kihachi Okamoto stages Samurai Assassin feels akin to that of a Shakespeare play, you always know who's in command of the scene by how everyone is positioned and how he moves his camera, making gorgeous use of the outdoor black and white photography and Tohoscope format. The first half is a deliberate slow burn, comprising excessive exposition and complex characterisations, sparsely populated by swift, decisive clashes of swords. The second showcases the ultimate downfall of those most revered by Japanese society, akin to that of a gritty crime-noir protagonist, and a final bout that rivals duels seen in the Zatoichi series. Punctuated by its prolonged genre-shattering monologues, the powerhouse performances of its cast, particularly that of the ever-captivating Toshiro Mifune and its spectacular climax will leave any fan of Okamoto's other works hungry for more.

A complicated tale but delivers the action

[gkbazalo · 17 September 2002]

Samurai Assassin is a complicated story but easier to follow than director Okomoto's excellent Sword of Doom made a year later. While it is clear that the band of assassins is seeking revenge on an official for an earlier purge on the assassins' clans, we never learn about the original reasons for their enmity. Historically, the disagreements concerned relations with foreign countries who were seeking to open up Japan to trade, but this is never alluded to in the film. The driving forces of the story, and they are good ones, are Niino's (Mifune) ambition to achieve full samurai rank and the paranoia of the leaders of the assassin band. These two forces interact nicely as the plot unfolds. Eijiro Tono (the innkeeper who befriends Mifune in Yojimbo) does his usual terrific job as the merchant who helped raise Niino and tries to protect him from meeting a tragic fate. Highly recommended for samurai and Mifune fans.

Strong

[Tweetienator · 8/10 · 6 February 2021]

I discovered this little gem by chance and liked it instantly. Samurai Assassin is one of those great samurai movies that provide more than just some sword action - they are also a glimpse into a very different but fascinating culture and time. If you like those "silent" passages (means no fighting action) of movies like Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, Samurai Assassin is a treasure for you to discover. Great piece with great acting and production.