Let me start off by saying that this is a terrible movie!
This is something you need to know just from the outset of this review. Save
yourself some money and just wait for it on DVD. Even then don’t buy it, just
hire it from the video store. Look, we can’t really have high expectations of a
movie starring Keanu Reeves. He seems to be the guy directors call when they
want to take really good stories like the Constantine comic books and turn them
into movies people don’t really know how to react to. I mean, Reeves was even
weird as Neo in The Matrix. He’s just a strange actor. I digress though; let’s
just get back into why 47 Ronin is 118 minutes (Nu Metro’s and Ster-Kinekor’s
ridiculous amount of trailers and ads aside) of your precious life given to a ridiculous
venture.
The problem with this movie, strangely enough, is that it
tries too hard to sell its weak plot to you and it tries to make you care about
its shallow characters. I have no problem with the lack of a solid plot or weak
character development in a movie about a fictionalised feudal Japan inhabited
by honourable Samurai, witches, demons and other shady characters. In fact both
those weaknesses usually make such a venture much better because you expect it
to be cheesy and crammed to bursting with well-choreographed fight scenes
accompanied by mind-bending CGI. 47 Ronin doesn’t do this! There are only a
handful of fight sequences and they are pretty much average and the CGI, though
quite good, isn’t that great or rather it isn’t used that effectively.
Director, Carl Erik Rinsch tried to tell the story of the real-life 47 Ronin
and make it very fantastical at the same time and failed on both counts. This
movie, then, doesn’t reward the viewer in any way other than it being very
pretty. The scenery takes your breath away and the costumes the characters wear
are amazing.
The story centres on Lord Asono’s kingdom of Ako preparing
to host a tournament in honour of a visit from the Shogun, the ruler of all of
Japan. His beautiful daughter, Miko is in charge of all the ceremonial
preparations and we learn that she is in love with Keanu Reeves’ character, the
half-breed, Kai. He is an outcast because he is half Japanese and half British
and was raised by the demons of the forest, the Tengu and was trained by them
to fight and also learned some of their magical abilities, which he uses only
once in the movie. He was adopted by Lord Asona but can never be a Samurai and
everyone in the kingdom pretty much hates him. So much so that he lives in a
hut in the outskirts of the kingdom. He is continuously beaten and humiliated
throughout the movie for trying to help everyone. Oishi, the leader of the
Samurai and later the 47 Ronin is the main protagonist even though he is pretty
much dumb enough not to believe Kai when he warns them of the witch, Mizuki.
Oishi is your usual honourable-to-the-death type of guy – a lot like Ned Stark
from Game of Thrones. Lord Kira, ruler of the neighbouring kingdom, Nagato is
the villain of the piece. He is your usual power hungry megalomaniac who seeks
to rule all of Japan. He is a decent villain but his companion, Mizuki is the
one that truly steals the show. She oozes sexy creepiness as a witch. What
follows is a story of deception and revenge by 47 guys you really don’t care
about.
Another thing that irked me is the misleading posters of the
movie, mainly the heavily tattooed pirate guy displayed on all the material as
the Renegade. He looks cool and you think he’s a prominent character till you
find out he’s in the movie for less than five minutes. What the hell, man?
 |
| Who is this guy? He looks badass but he really isn't. |
To conclude, this is a very bad movie. It is deadly dull and
in no way captures the spirit of the real-life 47 Ronin who set out to avenge
their master in 18th-century Japan. It has some interesting moments
and in the few instances when the action kicks in it’s done rather well but
leaves you hungry for more. The story tries to engage you but doesn’t get it
right. Save yourself some time and money and give this one a miss.
P.S. I am overlooking the fact that this movie could have been much better in Japanese with English subtitles.
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