13 Assassins (Japanese: 十三人の刺客, Hepburn: Jūsannin no Shikaku) is a 2010 samurai film directed by Takashi Miike, and starring Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Sōsuke Takaoka, Hiroki Matsukata, Kazuki Namioka and Gorō Inagaki.

A remake of Eiichi Kudo's 1963 Japanese period drama film 13 Assassins, it is set in 1844 toward the end of the Edo period in which a group of thirteen assassins—comprising twelve samurai and a hunter—secretly plot to assassinate Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu, the murderous leader of the Akashi clan, to thwart his appointment to the powerful Shogunate Council.

Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu of Akashi sadistically rapes, tortures, mutilates and murders nobles and commoners, but is protected by the Shōgun, his half-brother.

Shinzaemon gathers ten more samurai, including his nephew, Shinrokurō, plus one rōnin, to attack Naritsugu during his official journey from Edo to Akashi.

Meanwhile, the assassins, with the legal authority and generous financial assistance of Doi, buy the help of Ochiai to convert the town into an elaborate maze of booby traps and camouflaged fortifications.

A lengthy battle begins, with the assassins first using arrows and explosives, then using swords for melee combat, with the exception of Koyata, who fights with rocks in slings and with sticks.

An epilogue states that Naritsugu's death was officially attributed to illness, and that 23 years later, the Tokugawa Shogunate was overthrown during the Meiji Restoration.

13 Assassins was produced through Toshiaki Nakazawa's film outfit, Sedic International, and Jeremy Thomas's Recorded Picture Company.

Nakazawa had previously worked with director Takashi Miike on The Bird People in China and Andromedia (both in 1998), Yakuza Demon (2003), and Sukiyaki Western Django (2007).

Over the years, people have remade Kurosawa movies, but failed every time because they have not been able to adapt the story into something young audiences can understand.

[12] Principal photography began in July 2009 on a large open-air set in Tsuruoka in the Yamagata Prefecture in northern Japan.

The consensus reads, "Takashi Miike's electric remake of Eiichi Kudo's 1963 period action film is a wild spectacle executed with killer, dizzying panache.

"[22] On Metacritic, the film received "Universal acclaim" and was awarded its "Must-See" badge, with a weighted average of 84 out of 100 based on 33 reviews.

[24] Manohla Dargis chose 13 Assassins as her Critic's Pick for The New York Times, describing it as "A stirring, unexpectedly moving story of love and blood".

[26] Mark Schilling of The Japan Times commended Miike's direction and the performance of the ensemble cast (including Koji Yakusho's).

Schilling gave the film 4 stars out of 5, but, notwithstanding other favorable comparisons, he noted that it barely "strike[s] the deeper chords" of Seven Samurai.

[11] Leslie Felperin of Variety praised the film's technical aspects, describing Kenji Yamashita's editing as "gracefully executed", Kazuhiro Sawataishi's costume design as "terrific, character-defining", and Kōji Endō's soundtrack as "rousing, propulsive score".

[29] The Blu-ray version garnered positive reviews from IGN, DVD Talk, Slant Magazine, and HuffPost UK.