Saw 47 Ronin with everyone. It was good.
Wait, wait, wait. Are you seriously telling me that 47 Ronin isn't Holywood Executive Remix Action Bullshit?
I'm still wondering why the hell Keanu Reeves is in a samurai movie. I may have to eat a hat if he actually fits into the storyline somehow.
I know very little about the original story, so I can't really critique its faithfulness to the characters and plot.
Keanu Reeve's character was half-japanese. They referred to him as "the half-breed" throughout the movie, and was treated like dirt by all the samurai. I kind of understand why he's in there, because the presentation of the story felt Japanese to the point of potentially alienating a lot of American audience. The pacing would linger on scene-setting and moments of reflection, but then action and dialogue was very simple, quick, and precise. It had that poetic minimalism. It didn't hold the audience's hand by fleshing out and explaining everything as much as a Hollywood-style presentation normally would. Many things were left to the audience to figure out through context. All very traditional Japanese-style of storytelling, I believe. It also didn't pull any punches on the nature of Japanese honor and politics. There was a lot of stuff that went on that someone with little to no knowledge of Japanese culture and feudal politics would understand.
So while Keanu Reeve's character felt somewhat Hollywood, I think it's forgive-able. He acted as a good anchor for western audiences. Without him, I think many would have been alienated. And he did that without really spoiling it. He was written as a guy who was fully inducted into Japanese culture, but could also operate outside of it with a streak of individualism, to make him just a tad more western-sympathetic. And it was never like "Alright this Japanese shit is stupid. I'm going to break the rules and get shit done." That would have been fully Hollywood and stupid. It was more like, "We've found ourselves in a grey-area situation where our responsibilities and codes are contradictory, and I'm a little bit better at dealing with that then these samurai."
The other thing that felt Hollywood was Keanu Reeve's love-interest, but they didn't go overboard with it.
Other than that.... no complaints. They weren't even too crazy with the special effects. They were beautiful, but sensible and non-indulgent.
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