Loosely based on the Japanese legend of the same name, 47 Ronin stars Keanu Reeves as “half-breed” orphan Kai, who’s raised and trained in martial arts by demonic warriors in 18th century Japan. Subsequently taken in by the kindly Lord Asano (Min Tanaka), Kai falls in love with her daughter Mika (Ko Shibasaki), though his outsider status means that they can never marry. Then, a power-hungry rival Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano) and his shape-shifting witch sidekick (Rinko Kikuchi) carry out a cunning plan to frame Lord Asano for murder, allowing Kira to seize control of the former’s kingdom. When Lord Asano’s put to death, his personal retinue of samurai, led by a shame-stricken Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada) are banished from the land on pain of death. Mika is forced to marry Lord Kira, while Kai is sold into slavery. Oishi, now a ronin (the Japanese term for a samurai warrior without a master), decides to exact his revenge, and reassembling his scattered men, he tracks down Kai – who he believes has magical powers – to help him end Lord Kira’s reign. The story of the 47 ronin has been tackled before several times in film, but never by Hollywood, and certainly not at this budget level. This is unsurprising, since it’s an important part of Japanese history, and one of the country’s cultural touchstones – taking the tale and shoehorning in an American actor is vaguely akin to a Japanese studio heading to England to make a Robin Hood film with Ken Watanabe cast in the lead. The studio’s deep pockets are all there on the screen, though, and 47 Ronin is colourfully designed and sometimes exquisitely detailed; just about every scene has another, beautiful new costume in it, or an elegant painting on a paper screen, or an imposing carved statue. In terms of special effects, 47 Ronin is on less certain ground; the creatures don’t always look as though they’re in the same frame as the characters, and some sequences appear rushed. This is especially true in the opening reel, with an introductory sequence which looks as though it was added in at the last minute, some awkward and badly-dubbed child acting, and the somewhat depressing death of a forest monster that looks as though it’s stumbled in from Princess Mononoke. It’s not entirely clear why the more fantastical elements were introduced to such a traditional story in the first place, since the movie’s at its best when it sticks to what it’s supposed to be: a historical samurai epic. Like the summer’s The Lone Ranger, it feels as though the demons and magical powers were ushered in to help endear the film to an audience not entirely sold on samurai movies, a bit like the use of the various ghosts in the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise. Yet somewhere around the half-hour mark, 47 Ronin begins to find its pace. The rusty gears that crank the script into motion suddenly free up and spin into life, and the film emerges as a briskly entertaining – albeit downbeat – action movie. Keanu Reeves makes for a morose and monotone hero, but then, his brand of acting will be familiar to most audiences by now. He’s not really the star of the film in any case; he’s the eyes and ears for a western audience, while the heavy dramatic lifting’s done by such characters as Oishi and Rinko Kikuchi’s anonymous witch. That all these Japanese actors are saddled with an English script surely hampers their ability to fully express themselves, but their strength of character and sheer presence shines through. Hiroyuki Sanada in particular has real screen presence, and like most samurai films, the story’s emotion is conveyed almost entirely through his noble, fearless expression rather than dialogue. As the witch, Kikuchi gets to have all the fun, transforming herself into silver foxes and a menagerie of other animals, terrorising samurai warriors with her witchy powers and enchanted green spiders, and genuinely winding everybody up. Her performance could be described as a cross between Marion Cottillard’s femme fatale trickster in Inception and Maleficent out of Sleeping Beauty – a truly hypnotic creation who does something either amusing or disquieting every time she slithers onto the screen. It’s characters like the witch, and a handful of imaginative set-pieces, such as a night-time fight illuminated by fire, or the stealthy take-over of a hilltop castle, which make 47 Ronin something more than a forgettable holiday spectacle. It isn’t in the same league as the best samurai movies from Japan, and it feels hobbled by the PG-13 stipulation that a swordfight can’t result in the spillage of blood, but Rinsch directs his set-pieces with flair for the most part, and it’s a handsome film to look at in its best moments. Like the warriors of the title, 47 Ronin might have an uphill battle ahead of it at the Christmas box office, with the likes of The Desolation Of Smaug and Frozen still crowding audiences into multiplexes, but as an American attempt at a quintessentially Japanese genre, it fights valiantly to the very end. 47 Ronin is out in UK cinemas on the 26th December. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
title: “47 Ronin Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-02” author: “Elmer Kaufman”
While 47 Ronin takes considerable liberties with the legend on which it is based, introducing elements like witchcraft and giants, it does stick to the overall structure and the broad strokes of the story. We get the condemnation of Master Asano to death by seppuku after he is tricked (via a hallucinogenic concoction by a sorceress) into attacking a guest of his court. That guest is Lord Kira (Tadanobu Sato, who at least gets more screentime here than he did in both Thor films), a fiend so dastardly that he–along with his shape-shifting, magic wielding adviser, Mizuki (Rinko Kikuchi)–has eyes for Asano’s daughter…and her father’s land. Asano’s retainers are condemned to wander as masterless samurai, until their leader concocts a plan for revenge, and the acceptance of all the consequences that entails. The overall legend is recognizable, but there are some additions which clutter and complicate matters. The other issue is the addition of mystical elements like demons, magic swords, and shape-shifting witches to the mix. The film’s special effects are executed competently (although the 3D leaves much to be desired), but few of these extraneous bits of supernatural trickery ever feel particularly necessary. There are exceptions: Rinko Kikuchi’s spidery witch treats audiences to a handful of legitimately creepy moments, but despite being an integral part of the plot which sets the samurai off on their path to revenge, is never really present enough to be anything more than a side threat. Undoubtedly, the supernatural stuff is bound to annoy the purists, but even when you set such prejudices aside, the film never feels like it fully commits to the presence of the magic, which doesn’t permeate every scene. The result is a hocus pocus afterthought. And then there’s that nagging question of whether a story that has endured for over three hundred years particularly because of its appeal to the human spirit really needs any of these CGI bells and whistles in the first place. And really, there are a number of impressive sword and stuntwork sequences on display throughout the film, any of which are more exciting than most of the more elaborately rendered mystical creations. On the other hand, if you’re going to add magical elements to a semi-historical epic with a tremendous cast of characters that takes place over a span of years, why not indulge yourself a little? 47 Ronin would have done better to pick a direction and commit to it. As it stands, 47 Ronin is neither the fully-realized big-budget version that the story so richly deserves, nor is it the fanciful and fantastic Lord of The Rings style epic that it seems, at times, to want to be. Still, 47 Ronin is beautifully photographed and its commitment to elaborate costumes, intricate suits of armor, and practical battle scenes between large groups of people feels positively old-fashioned. It’s those moments where 47 Ronin is at its very best. As it stands, though, the clutter on display make this a missed opportunity to create what could have been a definitive cinematic take on a timeless story. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
