47 Ronin is utterly surrounded by negative hype. It was a notoriously troubled production that took three years to get to screen. People have cried foul over the presence of Keanu Reeves in one of Japan’s most well-known and beloved historical tales. The addition of fantasy elements didn’t do it any favors either. It seemed like a ridiculous idea doomed to fail right from the outset. But when the film is considered separately from its admittedly weighty context, it’s not terrible. It is obviously a thoroughly compromised production, but the problems themselves result in a tension that’s kind of interesting on its own.
The film largely manages to get across the main points of the story: the daimyo Asano is forced to commit ritual suicide for the offense of assaulting a courtier. The daimyo’s samurai are stripped of their title, and barred from taking revenge. But the now-masterless samurai are determined to get justice for the death of their master, and under the leadership of Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada), they set out to do just that. The film diverges from most retellings with the introduction of Kai (Keanu Reeves), an orphan halfbreed supposedly raised by demons, who grew up to serve Asano and fall in love with his daughter. Kai joins the Ronin in their quest for revenge, his demon upbringing giving him the skills to combat their target’s witch companion (Rinko Kikuchi).
The supernatural elements don’t add a whole lot to the story. It mainly serves the purpose of making the film look more like the fantasy epics that have become so successful over the last few years. But this is not an asset. It just feels like a lot of nonsense, and it opens up the film to plot holes. Rinko Kikuchi’s witch character is so vaguely defined, her powers largely defined by what the plot needs at any given time. Unsurprisingly, the film is best when it sticks to the core of the story. It is a story that has stood the test of time, and it’s remains fascinating to this day.
What is surprising is just how much the story remains intact, despite all the added nonsense. It might be the result of the tumultuous production process that this film went through. It went well over budget in the shooting, and this didn’t seem to leave a whole lot of room for VFX sequences. So whatever crazy adventure nonsense the film might have planned is largely truncated. What’s left is the core of the tale, which the film actually treats with startling reverence. The final product is still not great, but it’s mainly watchable.
The focus of the trailers has been the presence of Keanu Reeves, but he’s actually gone for long stretches of the movie. As in the real story, Oishi Yoshio is the main character, and he’s deftly handled by one of the finest Japanese actors around, Hiroyuki Sanada. Sanada is handicapped by the fact that English is not his first language, but his immense talent overcomes that obstacle easily. And he gets ample backup from plenty of other great Japanese performers. The film does seem intent on putting Keanu Reeves front and center, but the truth of it is that he’s a side character in Sanada’s story.
The tension that went into the production of 47 Ronin seems to have created a rather unique blockbuster. It’s not really great or anything, but what makes it on screen is kind of interesting in its own way. It does have an intriguing aesthetic, one that mashes up Japanese culture with Hollywood blockbusters. And it has an unusually grave lead in Hiroyuki Sanada, who exudes a sort of seriousness that transcends the silliness of the supernatural elements. The film is still chock full of bad ideas, but a strangely reverent core remains.
My Rating:
