47 Ronin

47 Ronin

Starring Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kou Shibasaki, Rinko Kikuchi

Directed by Carl Rinsch

In feudal Japan, a half-Japanese, half-British man named Kai (Keanu Reeves) is found in a mysterious woods as a boy, and raised among the Ako, where he falls in love with the ruler's daughter, Mika (Kou Shibasaki).

Years later, the village is visited by Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano) and his witch Mizuki (Rinko Kikuchi), who entrance the Ako leader into a spell causing him to almost kill Kira, which results in the ruler's suicide through seppuku, and Kira earning the Ako land, and Mika as his wife, in one year.

Kai is sent to slavery, and the leader of the Ronin, Oishi (Hiyoyuki Sanada) is banished to a pit.  Nearly a year later, he is released and goes in search of Kai and the other banished Ako soldiers in an attempt to avenge their leaders' death, even though they were forbidden to seek revenge, and Kai returns to rescue Mika from an upcoming wedding she doesn't want to go through with.

"47 Ronin" did something to me that nearly no other movie ever did - I actually fell asleep.  This film was incredibly flimsy, with horrific pacing and even worse dialogue.  Keanu Reeves continues to disappoint as his last good film was "The Matrix," which was well over ten years ago. 

The only interesting parts of the film were the fighting scenes, which were surprisingly good, except for Kai's fight with Mizuki, where she turns into a disastrously terrible CGI dragon the likes I haven't seen since The Rock turned into a scorpion thing in "The Mummy Returns."

The other interesting part was the true story behind the 47 Ronin, a small army taking on a powerful leader to avenge their master's wrongful death.  They're honored by the Japanese and every December millions of Japanese citizens visits the Ronins' graves.  It's a compelling story, which was unfortunately given the lame Hollywood treatment here.  If you want to see a great version of the history of the Ronin, check out the 1941 title of the same name.

My Rating: C