47 RONIN

US, 2013, 119 minutes, Colour.
Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada.
Directed by Carl Rinsch.

If you would like a matinee adventure, colourful and often spectacular, with Samurai martial arts, and a touch of romance, then why not 47 Ronin?

The film was very costly and, unfortunately, reviews and box-office have not been kind to the film. On the other hand, ordinary audiences who do go and see it have generally been more than satisfied.

One of the difficulties for critics and for some of the public is that the star is Keanu Reeves. While he received acclaim for The Matrix series, most of the comment about him is that he has a rather wooden, often passive, screen presence. He is not an actor of huge emotions. Here he can capitalise on that screen persona. He portrays what everybody in the film refers to as a “half-breed”. That is, he is the son of a Japanese woman and a British father, stranded in Japan, brought up in the woods by a strange hybrid people, thought by many to be a Demon.

The screenplay is a variation, imaginative, on the famous Japanese legend of the 47 Ronin, a group of disgraced Samurai who band together to avenge the death of their leader who was executed by the Shogun for attacking a guest. The audience knows, however, that a shape-shifting Demon incited him to this action, working for his rival who wanted to take over his kingdom. The Demon is quite spectacular in her transformations, the special effects people working hard to see her as a wolf, as a presence threading through the palace rooms and, finally, as a fire-breathing dragon.

The half breed is punished along with the other Samurai and then sold into slavery. The daughter of the executed Lord is in love with him but is taken off by the rival and, after a year of mourning for her father, she is to be married to him.

The Ronin loyal to the Lord is imprisoned in a hole for a year. On his release, he decides that he will avenge the Lord – Samurai belief in a circle of vengeance for crime. Reconciliation and diplomacy are certainly not on the agenda of the Samurai. He goes in search of the half-breed, releases him, and rounds up the exiled Ronin.

The first part of the film is quite spectacular, forest locations and an enormous giant beast who pursues the Warriors through the forest until the half-breed kills it. There are mime and musical perofrmances in honour of the visiting Shogun. Colours are bright, costumes brilliant and a great deal of pageantry.

The second part of the film is rather grim, the training of the Samurai, the half-breed’s visits to the hybrid people with whom you grow up in order to get swords to be able to fight the enemy. This also has spectacular moments as the Ronin are tested, not to draw their swords, no matter what. Some do and suffer the consequences.

But, when the Ronin attack the villain, the Demon has anticipated it and there is a battle and a rout. It is the final fight, within the Palace, during another performance in honour of the couple about to marry, that brings the story to a vengeful, fight-filled climax – and the loyal captain fighting the villain to the death, and the half-breed confronting the dragon and destroying it.

47 Ronin does what it sets out to do and offers an entertainment for those who are fans of this kind of Japanese Samurai stories.

1. An action entertainment? Japanese Samurai traditions? The historical basis for this story? Important legend in the Japanese tradition?

2. The production values: the locations, the atmosphere of Japan, the period, feudal life, the castles, the forests? The rousing score? Pageantry, cover, costumes and decor?

3. Special effects, the beast, the Demon, the battles?

4. The focus on Kai, the half breed, the young boy, his escape, the cuts on his head, being found by Lord Osino, adopted? The young boy hostile to him? His growing up? Working for Lord Osino? His life, his work? Keanu Reeves and his screen presence, acting style, passivity? Serious intent?

5. Life in the community, the Lord, his daughter, a love for Kai? The rivalry with the young warrior? The episode of the beast, the drama of the chase, its destruction, size, Kai killing it, his rival taking the credit, the Lord accepting this version?

6. The wolf, the eyes, transforming into a woman, a Demon, advising Kira, power, shape-shifting? Evil?

7. Kira, his kingdom, accompanying the Shogun, the visit, his plans?

8. The Shogun, his entourage, the reception, the entertainment, a lavish performance, costumes and decor, a sense of peace? The fight with the champion, the Demon mesmerising the warrior? Kai and his taking the Warriors place? The fight, his helmet coming off? His being taken and beaten?

9. Lord Osino and his being bewitched, attacking Kiraia, being arrested, the humiliation, is not wanting to be hanged, the Shogun giving permission for Hari Kiri? His daughter watching his death?

10. Lord Oishi, his not believing Kai about the Demon? His apology? His pondering the situation, the Samurai all being disgraced, becoming Ronin? His decision not to attack? His being put in the hole for a year?

11. Kira, his power, tyrant towards the people, intending to marry Osino’s daughter, giving her a year for mourning her father?

12. Kai, as a slave, in the boats, the foreign colony? Oishi coming to rescue him, the fight and the escape? The rendezvous with all the Ronin, their abilities?

13. The issue of weapons, Kai taking them to the world in which he grew up, the strange creatures, the test, his warning for Oishi not to draw his sword, the group and their attack, their seeming deaths? Oishi not drawing his sword? Getting the weapons?

14. The first attack on Kira? The Demon learning of the attack, the warning, her presence, the Ronin being massacred?

15. The preparations for the marriage, Osino’s daughter and her hostility? The Demon talking with her, the confrontation?

16. Second attempt, the players going to entertain for the wedding, allowing the Ronin to enter with them, disguised, being part of the performance? The spectacle? Kira and his delight? The troops coming in, infiltrating, killing the guards?

17. The spectacle of the final battle? Oishi and his confrontation with Kira, the swords, the knives, death?

18. The Demon, materialising, as cloth weaving through the building, appearing as the giant dragon, the fight with Kai, his killing the Demon?

19. The restoration of order in the kingdoms? The happy union of Kai and Osino’s daughter?