If it was my job to get people to see "47 Ronin," the easiest way to convince them would be to say "It is the one full-length movie that I have scene to feature a laugh track!"
In the land of Ako, a boy named Kai (Keanu Reeves) appears from a much different place. He is caucasian, so of course he is way different than everyone else there. He has scars on his head, which are speculated to be from having contact with demons. A man named Ôishi (Hiroyuki Sanada, "The Wolverine"), who has a high position in Ako, finds the boy. He does not want Kai to be there out of fear that he will bring about a great evil. However, their leader, Lord Asano (Min Tanaka) lets the boy dwell.
Kai grows up and is treated well by Lord Asano and his daughter Mika (Ko Shibasaki). He does not seem to be on good terms with other people because he is not like them. The exact nature of the prejudice against him is not very clear, which is one thing that is wrong with the film.
It is told through narration at the beginning that Kai is only loved by Asano and Mika and that he is discriminated against. However, the audience is never shown much of the tension that comes about from this. The only reason it is known is because a voice said so. There are some lines in a few scenes that suggest it, but it is something that is never discussed in enough depth to where this issue really matters.
One day, the family of Asano has a competition with a rival of his, Lord Kira (who is ironically played by a guy whose last name is Asano, his first name being Tadanobu). The Shogun came to watch. No one except Kai suspects that Kira is up to something. Previously, Kai had seen a wolf-like creature with different colored eyes, and when he sees a woman in Kira's company with exact same oddity, he knows she is a witch (played by Rinko Kikuchi).
Kai's warnings go unnoticed, and Asano is put under a spell in which he almost kills Kira. The lord is caught by the Shogun, who makes him commit suicide in a ritual called Seppuku in order to regain honor in his family.
The Shogun grants Kira the land of Ako as well as the marriage of Mika. Kira throws Ôishi to underground in solitary confinement. When he gets out, he plans to seek revenge and restore the kingdom. He knows the way to go about this is to team up with the person he never liked: Kai.
The basic storyline is really interesting because it is something that actually happened. However, the way it is presented is dull. It suffers from a poorly-written script that attempts to tell everything to the audience and poorly constructed characters we know nothing about. Kai is supposed to be the main character, but who in the world is he? It is revealed where he came from near the middle of the film, but that still does not give enough information.
Keanu Reeves is as stoic in his role as he is in pretty much everything else he is in aside from the "Bill and Ted" movies. The only thing that can be said about him is he is humble and he yields to higher authority, but the same can be said about all the other characters.
Kai is the only white character. Everyone else is Japanese. This is not a bad thing, but the film adds to a stereotype that many Americans have: all Asians look the same. In this movie, they are the same character with little variation. All they are are serious people who have blind respect for authority.
There are only two exceptions to this. One of them is the comic relief fat man (played by Takato Yonemoto), and the other is the witch. The funny thing is the witch is much more hilarious to watch than the fat guy. She is very over-the-top in her performance as she tries to be menacing. The result is a very cringe-worthy performance.
Yonemoto brings a certain likability to his role as the comic relief, but not much is given to him aside from the fact that he is fat. It is obvious the director wants the audience to chuckle at the very sight of him.
In fact, in a scene which involves him, a very subtle laugh track is placed. It is in the form of a few men laughing, and it sounds like it is coming from people within the theatre. However, when I saw this, I was the only person there! There is no way anyone else was laughing.
To be fair, there is one character who has an arc, and that is Ôishi. It is very simple: at the beginning he does not like Kai, and (SPOILERS!) he likes him at the end. It really does not go any deeper than that.
Coming into this movie, I was not expecting anything brilliant, but I was expecting some great action scenes. Even they are a letdown. For the most part, the action is bogged down by unimpressive, cartoony CGI. These scenes are not horrible, but they are not memorable either with the exception of one, which involves some kind of supernatural entity killing people. It is a visually impressive scene that delivers an intense moment.
I give this movie two out of five stars. I would not recommend going out of your way to see it. It has an interesting story, but that is because it is based on something that actually happened. There are other adaptations to choose from rather than wasting money on this lazily-put together piece of blandness.
Content: Rated PG-13. There is some action violence with no gore, though there are a couple decapitations and implied disembowelment that is not explicitly shown. One scene shows a man with blood on his hands. There is no profanity. The only instance of sexuality is a woman showing her legs and trying to act seductive.
For more details on how I rate films, visit http://criticalchristopher.blogspot.com/2014/01/defining-rating-criteria.html
"Kai is the only white character. Everyone else is Japanese. This is not a bad thing, but the film adds to a stereotype that many Americans have: all Asians look the same. In this movie, they are the same character with little variation. All they are are serious people who have blind respect for authority."
ReplyDeleteThey didn't all look the same to me. As long as you were paying even a single iota of attention to the movie, it was pretty clear to see the differences between each main character and their roles. I guess you were too busy being furious about the laugh track, so I'll excuse that little tidbit of racism from you.
"To be fair, there is one character who has an arc, and that is Ôishi. It is very simple: at the beginning he does not like Kai, and (SPOILERS!) he likes him at the end. It really does not go any deeper than that."
There are actually many characters who do have an arc. Were you too furious about the laugh track to notice this? Most of the main chracters have an arc, actually. Try to pay attention next time you do watch it.
Yeah, I will admit, what I said probably does come off as racist, but I did not mean it that way. What I was saying is their personalities are all very similar. There is little development of the characters themselves. You are right. Their roles are all very different. There is one guy who is the villain. Another person is the hero. Another person is the Shogun. There are quite a few different roles. What I was saying is who they are as characters are pretty much the same. They are all super serious about everything with very little variation. The characters who are different--namely the fat guy and the witch lady--do not give the audience enough information about them to get a sense of exactly who they are as characters.
ReplyDeleteI actually was not that furious about the laugh track. I was just shocked that it was there. It shows that the director had very little confidence that the movie was good, and he wanted to at least elicit a laugh out of the audience by making it sound like other people were doing the same thing. What is weird is how much it sounded like it came from people within the theatre.
Do you know what a character arc is? It is how the character grows and develops throughout the story. Ôishi is the only person who has a different viewpoint by the end. No one else seems to learn anything. If you could give me specific examples of anyone else with one, feel free to comment, and I will read with an open mind.