Review of 47 Ronin (2013) by Quincytheodore — 26 Dec 2013

The tale of 47 Ronin is an ancient one, embellished with honorable vengeance in an exotic setting. While such premise could draw people attention, but there also lies its weakness, it's severely predictable. Many have used simple already known concept and made it into fresh interesting watch, unfortunately for this movie spamming CG is not amongst the way to accomplish that. Hindered by poor acting, questionable cast and uneven storytelling, 47 Ronin feels detached and uninspiring despite its gorgeous visual.

From graphical standpoint, it's actually quite impressive. Mythical creatures roam its vibrant realm, colors are brightly sleek and the dark contrast makes for a good view. It's certainly up to par on other fantasy movies, although it does detract from more historical portrayal of feudal Japan. There's a bit exaggeration in it as well, almost as if it's a westernized version of Japan. Some scenes, especially with the quick battles or bizarre giant characters, have the grayish murky tone of medieval fantasy like The Hobbits, and while the style direction is a bit excessive, seeing kimono in brimming flamboyant dye is rather peculiar, it's acceptably eye pleasing.

Problems emerge when it tries to implement the story, which could be inspirational but remarkably falls flat. Keanu Reeves plays Kai, a half breed from an Englishman and a Japanese woman, the film's original character meant to portray an elevating underdog story, yet Reeves displays only one set of facial expression. He looks almost completely the same throughout the movie, there's barely any allure on seeing such monotonous hero. At the very least, his stiff performance can be considered as consistency, ironically so.

The use of English is awkward as well, The Last Samurai did the multilingual tone and it worked, so it could have used Japanese for more authenticity. There's a nagging feeling that something is amiss, specifically when the movie enters supposedly dramatic moments. Setting that aside, the script isn't exactly great either, most of the time it goes overly melodramatic, as if it wants the archaic feel of Japanese classic but delivered in mediocre English.

Casting is dubious, everyone has the samurai look and with boorish script, everyone is equally trapped in their respective dull role; there's your serious samurai and next to him are the sad samurai and funny samurai. Granted, there's not enough time to highlight them all, but none of them stand out or have the chance to perform to the fullest. Rinko Kikuchi, who earned Oscar and Golden Globe nomination for Babel, plays the evil witch, although her presence merely resembles a bitter high school cheerleader. The characters are just terribly shallow, when the leading male barely does robotic mumbles and the Oscar nominee looks that uncomfortable, it does nothing to draw the audience's interest.

During the two hours of its length, the flow feels fragmented, mainly because it consists of drab scenes with little beautiful vista sprinkled in between. There is no epic scale engaging skirmish to behold, just some small CG fights, which is odd since the appeal should be a smaller group of warriors against mightier force. It does boast a spectacle, but no amount of cosmetic can justify the bland use of Japanese classic.