47 Ronin (2013)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The laws of commercial success or failure are complicated. '47 Ronin' is a film that failed completely at the box office and is considered one of the biggest losers of the Universal Studios in the current decade, despite of belonging to a popular genre (fantasy action movie) and despite having Keanu Reeves as lead actor. I actually liked the film, and some of the reasons may be the same that let to its commercial disaster.'47 Ronin' is based on an 18th century historical event which took place in a Japan led by the shoguns who decided to close its gates and shores to foreigners and all but cut the ties with the external world. It's a bloody story of revenge and sacrifice that raises issues of honor, tradition, and respect for authority very close to the essence of the Japanese soul. The story was taken over by oral and written literature and later by cinema, with a romantic intrigue of impossible love being added among other. The approach in telling the story and the perspective taken by the writer or film director tells a lot about the way tradition and the whole era of the shogunate are being perceived. I can understand that Japanese viewers may dislike the Hollywoodization of the story. Script writer Chris Morgan and film director Carl Rinsch have taken the Japanese story into the territory of fantasy action movies. Feudal Japan is in their vision a land populated by spirits of the forest, dragons and witches. It's pure entertainment, and this is the main angle this film needs to be judged from.I found the result more than satisfying in the limits of its genre. The film is spoken in English, but I guess it would have had no chances otherwise in the American cinema theaters. The majority of the acting team is composed of Japanese actors, some of them well-known in Hollywood and they all do a fine job: Hiroyuki Sanada is the noble commander of the samurais revenging their murdered and dishonored master, Hiroyuki Sanada represents the dark side oponent, Ko Shibasaki gathers beauty and delicacy for the lead feminine role, while Rinko Kikuchi is best in the feminine role of a witch with transcending powers. In order to match the Caucasian physiognomy of Keanu Reeves the authors of the script had to invent a biography of a mixed race cavalier who did not appear in the original story. The role will not be remembered as a peak of his acting career, but he did not do less or worse than many other lead stars in action movies. Cinematography is beautiful, costumes are colorful and expressive, and the action scenes are well choreographed. '47 Ronin' is a well made action movie which succeeds to be true to the essence of the story despite the liberties taken by the Hollywood adaptation of the story. It may lack authenticity, but purist can always find on youTube the Japanese film with the same name made in 1941. It is all spoken in Japanese (with subtitles) and it lasts longer than 3 and half hours.

A band of samurai set out to avenge the death and dishonor of their master at the hands of a ruthless shogun. 47 Ronin is one of the films i had the pleasure seeing on the big screen back in 2013 and regardless of what critics thought about it i think it was an insane Sci-fi, Action, Adventure Epic with Dragons, Spiders and Samurais that will please some viewers of the genre. Keanu Reeves is excellent as this outcast who joins them in order of taking revenge for their master's death also Hiroyuki Sanada was excellent just like he was in The Last Samurai (2003) and The Wolverine (2013). Overall lot's of action, effects and sword fights that to me were more than just fine. (10/10)

I think this film received a lot of bad critics that it doesn't deserves. I really likes it. Just watching it at home. Even enjoyed it enough to watch it a second time. My brother also really likes this movie. And he is pretty hard to please.

Haven't reviewed a movie for ages but felt obliged to do so with this turkey. I came into this film with no preconceptions as I'd somehow missed hearing about it and had no negative opinion of Keanu Reeves (That's normally the best way to see a film). But right from the beginning I was plagued by the feeling I'd seen it before mainly because of all the clichés. Keanu is just awful don't know if it was his fault or the leaden script. Apparently the scenario was rewritten several times. So it ends up a little bit of everything CGI, real history, bolt-on American Hero, meandering plot, ho-hum romance. If you want to pass the time with this movie may be count the times you are reminded of other better films.