47 Ronin

Director: Carl Rinsch
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi, Hiroyuki Sanada, Min Tanaka, and Ko Shibasaki.
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 119 mins. Reviewed in Jan 2014

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Rating notes: Fantasy themes and violence

This American fantasy action and sci-fi adventure film tells the story of how a band of samurai restore honour to their people after a treacherous warlord deceitfully disgraces their leader, who is ordered to suicide. After his death, which is much mourned, they are banished, never to return.

The group is known as the 47 Ronin, and the story is based loosely on the true tale of 47 samurai who avenged their disgraced master’s death in the feudal era of Japan. The plot is complex and typical of Japanese story-telling, it is full of ritual suicides, and martial-arts fighting. The violence is gruesome, but it is relatively bloodless.

As the tale unfolds, Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano) and his love-mate witch, Mizuki (Rinko Kikuchi) plot to bring a rival provence war lord, Lord Asano (Min Tanaka) down. Their treachery causes Lord Asano to be disgraced, and they turn the samurai into Ronin, which in Japanese story-telling, means “masterless samurai”.

One year later, Kuranosuke Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada) draws the band of Ronin together to avenge the act. To help him do that, he enlists the aid of a half-breed, Kai (Keanu Reeves), who is especially gifted. Kai is the illegitimate child of a British sailor and a Japanese peasant woman, and he has been trained by demons when a boy to be a skilled killer.

The plot thickens when we find out that Kai secretly loves Mika (Ko Shibasaki), the daughter of Lord Asano. He wants desperately to stop Lord Kira marrying Mika. To do so, he must not only survive the wrath of Lord Kira and his military followers, but also the initial distrust of the band of Ronin, and the witchcraft of Mizuki.

Despite the complexity of its plot, this is a visually impressive adventure movie that uses the beauty and grandeur of Japanese landscapes and scenery very effectively. The 47 Ronin are on a noble quest that exposes them to a series of challenging trials, and there is a strong supernatural element to the tale. The demons who trained Kai test the will of the Ronin, and Mizuki – able to change her shape effortlessly to a spider, a dragon or anything else – presents significant problems for the Ronin along the way.

The movie spends a lot of time exploring the themes of honour, redemption, and loyalty. The 47 Ronin are noble and proud and their adventuring is solemn. They are men “who put honour and service before their fear of death”. Because of the weight of the issues at stake, the pace of the movie is slow. However, the visuals make up for plot, and there is much to marvel at in the settings of the movie. Particularly impressive is the bamboo forest haunted by the demons who trained Kai, the choreography of the fight sequences, the colour and texture of the war lord’s court, and the armada of ships gathered sinisterly in the bay. The movie is photographed splendidly with sweeping vistas and intimate close-ups.

Much of what is shown in this movie reminds one of “The Lord of the Rings”, but it is not as enjoyable. This is a more ponderous movie and less fun. It doesn’t have a lot of character development; it is edited clumsily at times; and it lacks a smooth pace. Nevertheless, it deals with Japanese fantasy in a memorable way. It manages to stay at the edge of American-styled adventure that has Asian picturesque appeal, and the movie is respectful of Japanese legend.

This is a sumptuously designed fantasy movie, rich in colour and detail, that tries hard to combine Japanese mythology with fantasy spectacle. Despite what is good about it, it is likely to go down in history as a failed Hollywood spectacle, largely because of the inevitable contrast that will be made with the “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” series. But the movie deserves attention in its own right. This is “Lord of the Rings”, Japanese style, and the fate of the Ronin at the end of this movie means there will be no sequel.