Rating of
1.5/4
"47 Ronin" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 09/09/14
When a rival lord betrays and causes the death and shame of their master, a group of samurai reunite in exile to plot their vengeance and restore his family honour. I'm something of a fan of samurai films, the classics of Kurosawa being the standard by all others shall be measured. I of course did not expect 47 Ronin to be in their league, but it still managed to disappoint on every level. It, like 300, is more like the history and culture of an ancient and venerable society transformed into a computer generated theme park ride. Keanu hasn't looked this out of place since his absurd casting as Jonathon Harker in Dracula and the cast deliver its clunky, dim-witted dialogue at various levels of hammy scenery-devouring. The CGI is of the expensive but totally unconvincing style and the fact that a film featuring sword fights, be-headings and ritual suicide had no blood at all just looked ridiculous. 47 Ronin is just a slightly idiotic, homogenized caricature of Japanese tradition that doesn't even challenge the mediocre standards of The Last Samurai, never mind Seven Samurai.
