Rent 47 Ronin (2013)

Who thought this was a good idea?! - 47 Ronin review by RT

Version I watched: UK DVD
Actors: 6/10
Plot/script: 2/10
Photography/visual style: 6/10
Music/score: 6/10
Overall: 5/10

In 1703, 47 vengeful Japanese warriors infiltrated an enemy fortress and murdered the dignitary who had shamed their lord, Asano Naganori, into committing ritual suicide. That really happened, in our real world, and you can visit their graves near Tokyo today. It is also one of the foundational, revered narratives of Japanese national culture.
It did not involve any sorcery, dragons or Keanu Reeves.
The disregard of this movie for every part of the event and narrative for which it is named is so flagrantly disrespectful that it borders on outright racism. And casting an American film star as a Japanese man? Okay, half-Japanese within the story, which itself is a problem in the historical context. But I really thought we weren't doing that any more. Cross-racial casting is now so frowned upon that even when it is given a lot of narrative justification, like in Cloud Atlas, it still lands very weird. And in 47 Ronin? They clearly just wanted a big Hollywood film star in their movie.
Keanu himself has a reputation as a poor actor, and it's not without basis. But in his lane, he can really excel. Very few actors could rock the Matrix leather trenchcoat like he did. This film is not his lane though.
Around Keanu is almost a who's who of Hollywood's go-to Japanese actors - Tadanobu Asano, Hiroyuki Sanada, and so on. Ken Watanabe is missing, but otherwise it's a full house. They are mostly good actors too, and yet none of them seem particularly invested in the film.
That goes for every aspect of this movie, in fact. From the director Carl Rinsch through the writers Chris Morgan (known mainly for the Fast & Furious movies) and Hossein Amini, to the actors, practically everyone involved seems to be just picking up a paycheck. They are all professionals, so they ham it up as much as you'd want from this kind of film, but their heart isn't in it. Rinko Kikuchi in particular fully commits to her scenery-chewing wicked sorceress role, but then she did follow the film up by quietly ending her sojourn in Hollywood and going back to Japan; after a handful of significant Hollywood films, she has barely been seen in an American movie since.
The special effects are also a bit of a highlight. There are some spectacular CGI action scenes (possibly Chris Morgan's influence showing), showing that the SFX team are true pros as well, although they are somewhat undercut by the nonsensical plot removing the stakes needed to fully invest.
It's such a shame because the original story of the 47 ronin doesn't need any of it. It already has disaster and triumph, loyalty and betrayal, subterfuge and deception, twists and turns and real emotional drama. There have been a few films made of it, and there will absolutely be people living now whose lifetime ambition is to make their own version. But now, when this proposal is brought to producers, they will say "That's been done, back in 2013. It was rubbish, and it flopped."
That's the legacy of this disrespectful, dishonorable mess. I don't know what they were thinking.
For my full review, see my independent film review weblog on Blogspot, Cinema Inferno.

46 1/2 Ronin - 47 Ronin review by PC

I thought this looked quite interesting from the trailer and the mix or real events, shoguns and the supernatural looked promising. However, the whole things looks so fake and this goes as far as Keanu Reeves' performance. It would be nice to see the traditional story without the need to include a Hollywood star who looks out of place amongst Japanese acting royalty. None of the relationships ring true and the effects, though many, fail to impress.

47 Ruined - 47 Ronin review by CP Customer

This is by far the worst Keanu Reeves film I have ever seen. It makes he's performance in Bram Stoker's Dracula worthy of an Oscar. What on earth was he thinking when he signed up to make this pile of s***t? He would of done he's career more favours by starring in Speed 2. There are not many films I don't finish watching till the end but this one, I'm sorry but it ruined about 47 minutes of my time and then I gave up on it completely. Truly, truly awful, just dire. If this had been a Japanese subtitled film with foreign unknown actors then perhaps it would of done it more favours. Having Keane in it just f****d it up big time. Rant over....