47 Ronin, a lesson in lost potential.

In my list of Oriental film styles, Japanese ranks under Chinese and Korean (except in animation, thanks to these guys.) Live action Japanese films, I've tend to notice, end with the protagonists dying in the name of honor, typically after completing their honor quest. This isn't a bad thing (see 13 Assassins). When watching a foreign film, it's always important to take into account the culture from which it spawns. That's just good movie etiquette. There are some movies that come from other cultures that touch on more universal things (See: Rashomon, Life of Pi, Bajo La Misma Luna, Slumdog Millionaire, Hero) or are just fun to watch regardless of what you're looking for (Most Bollywood movies for example). Samurai movies are much more niche'd and nuanced than most other movies (Kung Fu movies included) and require a basic understanding of Feudal Japan and what was considered important culturally (I'd recommend The Last Samurai to get your feet wet) to fully enjoy them (just know that the Shogun is the end all be all of leadership and what he says more or less is divinely decreed from heaven).

47 Ronin tells the story of Ôishi, a samurai serving under Lord Asano in the province of Ago(?), and his quest for justice/revenge (here is where a basic understanding of Bushido would good, if only to understand the difference). Keanu Reeves’ story is much more...Western than the rest of the movie. His character Kai is a half-breed (half-??(we later learn English) and half Japanese) that was found in some woods with “mysterious” wounds and everyone hates him, except Lord Asano and his daughter. He tries his best to be accepted, but ain’t no one gonna have that. To make an overly long first act short, he sees Rinko Kikuchi’s character being all witchy and calls for action. He gets ignored and one thing leads to another and Lord Asano commits Seppuku, leaving Ôishi and a ton of dudes, as Ronin, masterless samurai. The Shogun decrees that the daughter will marry the main antagonist so that the fighting will stop and forbids the Ronin for taking revenge. Ôishi gets thrown in a pit for a year and Reeves gets sold into slavery. Thus begins the quest for revenge/justice/vengeance/honor.

Let’s talk about the acting. Keanu Reeves...is well Keanu Reeves. He’s made enough movies where he’s a stoic good guy chosen to save anything from the world to the future that we can expect the exact same thing in this movie (I was really hoping for a “I am a Sam-Ur-ai” moment, but it never came).  However, everyone else does a fantastic job. I really liked Hiroyuki Sanada as Ôishi, the movie’s real protagonist.  Every scene he’s in is a great one. The final fight between him and the leader of the rival province (to whom hottie the naughty daughter of Lord Asano is supposed to marry and to whom Kai gave his heart) is lacking all special effects and allows for a  real and brutal choreographed (if only for “safety) fight happen that outshines Keanu’s fight with a CG dragon (Side note, aside from Star Wars Episode 1’s fight with Darth Maul, the best fight scenes land without special effects. For proof, watch The Three Musketeers, Mask of Zorro, Princess Bride, The Court Jester, Count of Monte Cristo, Tekken, Undisputedseries namely 3, and any Jackie Chan movie).

What’s good about this movie is everything not Keanu Reeves. Nearly every scene without him is really good and sets a great tone and feel. By far the coolest scene is when they raid the villains’ castle. It’s a ninja scene of awesome. Where 47 dudes sneak and kill their way to their proper positions to avenge their murdered (he killed himself but...well, maybe see the movie to understand) master. But the best scene, in terms of feeling, acting, dialogue, and machismo, is where the 47 sign a deal saying, in essence, to end the cycle of violence that might occur when we murder this S.O.B., we’re going to take our own lives after we succeed. That way, no one is going to hunt us down and the revenge cycle will end (Inigo knows what they’re talking about). They sign their names and then cut their thumb a little and leave a blood finger print. It was just really cool.

Here’s where we talk about what sucked or at least they didn’t do very well. One thing I was looking forward to was seeing this tattooed guy (he’s Dutch) be either an awesome bad guy, a self-interested neutral character, or the surprise awesome good guy a la 13 Assassins. He’s in it for at most 30 seconds. He’s on billboards, the G**D*** cover of the movie as him as the second biggest character next to Keanu. He even has a spot in the trailer where we see him fire his guns. Here is a character that could have added so much more to this movie. An extra scene about loss of loyalty that includes the very influential “End of the Sword” trauma that rocked Japan near the middle of the 1800’s (watch the anime Samurai X/Ruroni Kenshin and The Last Samurai to understand better). This was, in my opinion, a huge waste of potential movie awesome.

Then there’s the Tengu Priest. That scene, is awesome, even the part with Keanu Reeves. They go there to get swords that they need to kill people. They get them and they’re supposed to be these magical swords of cool. When Keanu uses it, it cuts through a branch like butter. He even says that the sword’s power depends on the wielder. But when everyone else uses it, all it does is leave a blue-ish trail of...air? magic? meth smoke? I don’t know. All I do know is that there was a possible scene where they find out what they do, if only for the important characters (Yes in a movie where there are more than say...6 screw the rest (see The Hobbit movies, or 13 Assassins, or The 13^th Warrior for reference)), right after they get them from the Tengu. Here is where the Dutch Tattoo man could come in. Or even another fantastic monster, since in this universe they’re still around.

The last piece of disappointment that I find inexcusable is the Giant Lu Bu Samurai’s finale. Since I don’t recommend this movie, I’ll spoil his death here. Instead of a cool fight scene where the Tengu swords might have done something (the first time we see him, he breaks a sword) or another loss of where the Dutch Tattoo guy’s guns don’t do anything or something, what we get is an explosion that shatters his armor to reveal that that was all he was, a suit of armor animated to do the bidding of the Witch. We can keep that last part, animated armor can be really cool and this one was. However, there was a missed opportunity to do something really cool here. A fight scene where some of the Ronin rush him and show that much can be accomplished with unity and comradery, a one-on-one between him and the person he was originally supposed to fight (that would have made the first act worth the time as Keanu steps in the place of a dude and loses to him in the first act, hence the beating scene in the trailer). But no, all we get is a Michael Bay solution to a problem: got problem, got explosion?

The role of the Dice give this flick a 6/10 (7/10 if you’re desperate). Although the premise and quest are cool, there was just so much more that could have been done that wasn’t. I’m gonna bet though, that the director’s cut is actually gonna be pretty good.