47 Ronin

Cast of Characters:

Kai - Keanu Reeves

Kuranosuke Oishi - Hiroyuki Sanada

Lord Kira - Tadanobu Asano

Mizuki - Rinko Kikuchi

Mika - Kou Shibasaki

The Shogun - Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

Director - Carl Rinsch

Screenplay - Chris Morgan & Walter Hamada

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images and thematic elements

      Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada and Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi star in 47 Ronin. It's Neo meets The Last Samurai.

      When we're first introduced to Kai, he's a young abandoned boy found by a group of samurai. Considering he's an illegitimate child of a British sailor and Japanese peasant girl, he's looked down up by some of the samurai as a "half breed".

      Years later, after their master is put to death by the evil Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano) and his witch Mizuki (Rinko Kikuchi), the samurai now turned Ronin (leaderless samurai), led by Kuranosuke Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada), are banished from their society. Vowing vengeance, even if it means death for themselves, the Ronin embark on a journey to avenge the death of their slain master. Along with them is that "half breed" Kai (Keanu Reeves), now grown up, who sets out to prove to them he is also worthy of the title of samurai.

      To those that don't know the story of the Forty-seven Ronin, it is - to this day - an immensely revered and respected fable from Japan that tells of a real-life account in 18th century Japan where a group Ronin avenged the death of their fallen leader. Some Japanese consider it their "national legend". If done right, a feature film on this tale could be a riveting, emotional and profound experience that explores such themes as loyalty, code, honor and sacrifice. What we get isn't the case. Now, don't get me wrong. I wasn't expecting much from this, particularly when "Ted Logan" is front and center. The film though tries to have its cake and eat it too, which is its biggest problem - aside from the poorly edited fight sequences which rely too much on closeups and quick cuts. It wants to be both a serious homage to the tale of the Ronin while also being the mystical box office blockbuster we've seen advertised through the trailers, which is unnecessary. There's a great story to be told with the 47 Ronin as is, and throwing in all the CGI (some of which is impressive, while some is also cheesy) and the creatures and whatnot really distracts the viewer from what the main focal point of the story should be: these 47 men willing to sacrifice their lives in order to avenge the death of their master. Speaking of those 47 men, we also have the problems with the character development. Although the film is titled 47 Ronin, it might as well have been called 2 Ronin, 'cause Reeves's Kai and Sanada's Oishi are the only ones we really get to know out of these men. Of course, you can't give detailed development of all the men. The film would be six hours long if you did, but at least developing a few more other than just showing us a couple outside of the main two by way of, "Here they are... and now let's kill them off." would've been better. It's a shame 'cause this features a talented Japanese cast and their talents are wasted on characters they can't really get much out of. Even Rinko Kikuchi, who I'm a big fan of, can't do much with her villain role. She looks like she's having fun with it, or at least as much fun as she can, and I can understand why, after playing mostly empathetic and (or) likeable characters, she'd wanna sink her teeth into a villain part. There's not much there for her to chew on though. Of course, we also get a forced love interest between Kai and Mika that is introduced and then pushed aside.

      Overall, I can't say I hated this film like others seem to feel about it. 47 Ronin has its entertaining moments, and the supporting cast does the best they can with the poor material they're given, but it's a missed opportunity. I don't even blame Keanu Reeves either, and actually he's not really that bad here, keeping his performance within his limits. I blame the writing and the direction for wanting this to be some sort of holiday blockbuster, CGI fantasy epic when the story doesn't need that. Fans wanting lots of action will probably be bored by the lack of it and those wanting a character driven fable will be disappointed as well. I'd love to see a well written and directed take on this story, and maybe someday they might give it another shot and do it right. I give 47 Ronin a C- (★★).