I had some expectations on this movie. Samurai’s, fantasy, magic etc… Sounds good to me alright. Well, as it turned out after having watched it I feel that my expectations was not entirely fulfilled. It is a decent enough movie. Certainly enjoyable to watch. But it is, in my opinion, not a great move and I cannot give it more than an average okay rating.
I have not read the original story which the movie is, supposedly, based nor seen any of the other 47 Ronin movies that have been made. Thus I did not really know what the story was except what was the public storyline nor do I know if the movie actually follows the original story in any great detail. The basic story in the movie is a good one though. Classic, simple and perhaps not very original but a good concept for making a good adventure movie.
The movie is entertaining…to an extent. There are plenty of nice scenes, action, special effects that all make the movie worthwhile to watch. The Japanese, samurai, setting is one that is not used very often in major movies except of course for a bunch of fairly ludicrous martial arts movies which cater for a rather limited audience and generally on a very low-budget.
However, I never really felt much attachment to any of the characters. Even the half-breed, which are supposed to be the hero, never seemed to lift above the ordinary. The bad guy could have been any two-bit crook in a TV-show. The witch was a bit better but still rather meh. The Shogun at least provoked a bit of emotions but not in a good way. What an asshole! Not a shred of investigation when Lord Asano was bewitched. Just “go kill yourself”. Then after the 47 Ronins had actually proven his innocence as well as proven themselves to be the most loyal and capable warriors around the dumb fuck wants them killed because they disobeyed his orders which where total nonsense from the start. As a matter of fact, the ending dragged down the movie quite a lot for me.
Still a movie worth watching but it could have been a lot better.
I didn't have much expectations for this movie but it was enjoyable enough. Maybe it has some holes that were created to appeal the action movies viewer. I also "borrows" without shame from "Princess Mononoke" and other movies but, as a whole, it is decent enough.
