Review of 47 Ronin

I thought this movie was slow and difficult. The subject matter is what enticed me to see it in the first place. A band of samurai out to avenge someone or some cause; to find justice in Medieval Japan. At first the story was intriguing. But after the first twenty minutes or so, it just seemed to go on and on, with everything predetermined. I can honestly say I was not surprised by anything that happened at the concluding sequence. The giant samurai was done away with all too easily I thought. And Keanu Reeves, in a rather awkward performance, does away with the witch in an all too expedient fashion.

The movie tries to be big, classical, epic, like Seven Samurai by Kurosawa. Instead it comes off as a Lord of the Rings wannabe without half the story or fight sequences. Especially the last part. It was somewhat interesting to see how the rebel samurai infiltrate the bad Lord's palace. But, I think it was cliche to have it be a "sneak attack" just like Pearl Harbor. Perhaps I'm over analyzing, perhaps that's what really happened, but I think the writers on this film were simplistic and worst of all cliche. I didn't like how the giant samurai was so simplistically written out of the script when, afterall, he played such a menacing character at first.

I liked the mass suppolku. I thought it really portrayed how deeply that act was ingrained in Medieval Japanese culture. I don't know if it is an exaggeration to have so many Samurai kill themselves, but that scene, at the end, where all of the rebel Samurai commit suicide does have an affect on the viewer. However, it is at the very end of the movie. Perhaps restructuring the narrative away from the classical structure would bring more interest to the movie. Perhaps you could have had the mass suicide at the beginning and create a circular narrative. This picture was a linear narrative that shows little creativity in structure or action. At one point I thought I was watching the same movie as this past Summer's Wolverine. A lot more could have been done to make this picture better.

Yet, I get the feeling that the producers of this picture wanted it to be simple, easily digestible by the mostly male, fanboy crowd. Perhaps seeking some business along the lines of the Hobbitt or Lord of the Rings, etc segment. This movie was not multi-layered. The characters had little to no nuance. A clear sign that the over 25 crowd was not in the picture when this movie was being made. Lastly, with it's epic-style narrative, wouldn't it have been wiser to release it in the Summer? With all the other shallow films that aspire to be blockbusters?