47 Ronin was a mixed bag for me. Admittedly, my expectations were low, and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. I had never heard the original Japanese story, so I can’t speak to the historical accuracy of the events portrayed in the film. Kai’s inclusion was of particular note to me. This is the first time I’ve seen Keanu Reeves play a mixed race character, and I wonder if he was intended to act as a point of entry for white audiences. There were white savior elements in the portrayal of Kai, and on the other hand, there’s something to be said for kick-ass characters who occupy spaces of liminality and hybridity.
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Week 1, Thur. “47 Ronin”
Until the first day of class I was not aware of the film ["47 Ronin"] we were going to see, nor was I aware of the traditional story it is based off of. My only understanding of the movie has been through the brief synopsis of the traditional story, that Keanu Reeves is in it, and (as a direct quote from my roommate:) “It’s like a thrilling action movie. You’re going to see that?”
Immediately, there were elements I suspected to be altered. The first and most obvious was the setting in which this story was meant to be told and the use of a white actor as the lead focus (and hero) of the plot. In the opening of the film, a deep, narrating voice lays out the context of the plot and setting, stating that this was a time in Japan when no foreigners were allowed to enter. Later in the film, Keanu Reeves’ character is told of how he came to be human and “demon” (his father was a Dutch trader and his mother Japanese) but this still is an unnecessary addition to a story that already has a rich back-story, history, and plot! This element (of white-washing in casting) was disappointing. To me, it is not a question or judgement of Keanu Reeves’ acting, but instead another example of appropriation and the misrepresentation of People of Color. By casting a white actor for a role that created just to hire a white actor is majorly problematic, yet such a common occurrence it’s also become majorly over-looked.
I would like to learn and read more about the original, traditional story to further analyze the film we watched today. Perhaps it will give me a better insight as to why those who remade the film chose to do it in such a way. I am curious to find out if the witch portrayed in the film was also apart of the original (or if those who created the film actually stereotyped this character not only as a “dragon lady” but as an actual evil, seductress who turns into a dragon…) and where the mythical/magical creatures came into play. How true to the original story was the film? Or, is this another unfortunate example of profiting off of another culture, only maintaining certain Asian elements just to “sell it” as Asian?
47 Ronin of which I have no idea about..
Nor have ever heard of the movie at this particular moment either. This requires more research on the subject which is something that I excel at. I cannot comment on something I know nothing about.
Initial Impressions of 47 Ronin
Appears to be an exciting film. Would be interesting to read the story and see how both the film and the story compare and contrast.
Impressions of 47 Ronin
I have wanted to see this move since last year!!
There are many Japanese actors and actresses I know!My friends in Japan went to see it earlier because the movie have been showed in Japan before USA.
I felt like this movie described Samurai as cool Japanese culture. And it also reminded me of the movie “Last Samurai” . Both stories are about Samurai and the main characters are American actors. Those American main characters contributed Samurai‘s societies. In addition, those movies focus on “武士道(Bushido)”. For example, the end of 47 Ronin, although they destroyed bad enemies and the story seemed to have good ending, the team of Kai committed suicide.
This movie has the girl who wears Kimono with improper and over sexual way.
This movie is mixture of Japanese history and pop-culture things.
47 Ronin: Impressions
He looks just like me…..
To start off, I would give this movie a 6/10 if you like action scenes and Keanu Reeves. If you are trying to gain some knowledge about the Japanese tale of the 47 Ronin, I would give this a 2/10. The movie does provide the character’s names and it somehow manages to show the 47 ronin getting their revenge, however the entire plot revolves around witchcraft, magic, dragons and tengu, and of course a white savior. For somebody like me watching this film, I am already aware of the numerous hollywood influences that I should be looking for and I know deep down that it will not meet my expectations. This can be a double edged sword. On one hand, I can spend the entire movie picking it apart and finding its inaccuracies and fallacies. On the other hand, I can suspend my disbelief without caution because I am already aware of its shortcomings and I know it was not geared towards retelling the tale with historical accuracy. What is truly scary about this movie is that there will be many people seeing this film who have the potential to be influenced by it’s portrayal of Japan and it’s history. I like to imagine a young child seeing this movie and actually believing that Japan used to have dragons and magical beasts that roamed the mysterious lands. The narrator even states in the beginning that to understand this tale, one must first understand old Japan. And then the movie goes right into magic. So, from the perspective of somebody impressionable and unaware of the movie’s inaccuracy, this might seem like a wonderful and mystical tale of 47, well at least I think there were 47, ronin who avenge their lords death with the help of a magical outsider. This outsider is allowed to fulfill his love quest with the lords daughter, who was off limits to him, but then has to make a tragic entrance by way of ritual suicide. What a gripping tale, eh? One last thing; the fight scenes included a lot of unorthodox katana wielding and if you are trying to tell a tale of old Japan, you could at least make them look like trained samurai.
Movie Review: 47 Ronin
Movies; Kung Fu, Karate and SciFi are one of my obsessions, and yesterday was a good movie day.
Why? Because I caught the new Keanu Reeves version of 47 Ronin, in 3D. What did I expect before going? Previews made it look more… out there than typical movies in the genre. Being a fan of the genre I knew the idea behind the Ronin– Samurai without a master– but I don’t remember ever hearing of the 47.
Speaking of the film overall, it was quite different than the previews portrayed– thankfully. The 3D effect never felt like a distraction as it tends to happen more often than not. The CGI was impressive and mostly believable. Overall, a fun film to watch.
The story line was the traditional warrior’s revenge tale that is the core of so many great films. The part of Kai played by Keanu Reeves felt a bit forced. Not his acting, which fit the film well, but the inclusion of the character didn’t really fit the story. Was the character intended to be a way to westernize the film? To make it more attractive to US audiences? I believe it would have been a stronger story without Kai.
There are other elements that didn’t make a lot of sense either. The 47′s leader was thrown into a pit after his master was killed by Lord Kira. Then for some unexplained reason a year later– one week before Kira was to assume control over the province– he is released, gathers his men and begins the path to avenge his master. What?!
Anyway, the resulting raid of Lord Kira’s castle appeared too easy, and the 47 amassed a formidable army… somehow. Did I fall asleep during the explanation of their loyal followers? Maybe I was distracted by the ever increasing need to pee thanks to the overly carbonated 32oz soda. Either way the castles siege appeared too easy.
Lastly, Kai uses magic to defeat the evil witch who was in league with Lord Kira. She turns into a dragon, threatening Kai’s love interest, Mika. After a relatively short battle scene the dragon witch is defeated, but Mika does not look surprised by Kai’s use of magic, nor does she question him about it.
All-in-all it was a good movie, and one of the few 3D films I believe worthy of the feature and price of admission. The problems with the story are easily enough overlooked when you consider the tale has been represented many times in film: The 47 Ronin, 1941/ The Loyal 47 Ronin, 1958/ 47 Ronin, 1962/ 47 Ronin, 1994. This 2013 adaptation is a worthy successor to its predecessors… just be sure to visit the restroom during the previews~
Pre Thoughts on 47 Ronin
So far I have only seen Pre-views (trailers) of 47 Ronin and thought it would be a fantastic movie to see in the theater due to the prospects of it containing a lot of action and great cinematography.
47 Ronin Impressions: Before and After
Before
I’ve seen the trailer for it at least twice. And well… I’m not sure how I feel about it.
The movie is based on an actual story from Japanese history; and from what I’ve seen in the trailer, it seems that some aspects have been added and others exaggerated. I’m concerned that the message of the original story might be lost in translation. Actually a better phrase would be lost in technology. There is a possibility that, for the sake of “audience appeal”, the story could have been completely changed. Forced to adapt to the fast lifestyle of our generation of consumers.
After
It was overall a fairly decent movie. I am impressed that they stayed pretty close to the original story. However, I feel as though some parts were very rushed, leaving very little room for character development. And I guess the fighting and special effects were supposed to make up for lack of story elements that leave a big impact on the audience.
“47 Ronin” – Impressions
I watched this movie over winter break with my boyfriend. I didn’t want to make any critiques on it until I heard the opinions of my class mates and professor.
Update:
I am basically going to be categorizing this as the pro’s and the con’s of the movie. I’m not sure which to start with so maybe I’ll start with the cons.
Cons:
When I initially first saw the movie (today was my second time seeing the film) I didn’t really think that the film focused too much on Keanu Reeves (Kai) saving the day. But after seeing it again, I am realizing now that if the ronin were viewed as a tall building, then Kai would be playing the role of the strong base of the building. The reason I say this is because he saved Yasuno from the beast at the beginning of the film, he warned Ôishi about the witch and later received an apology from him, he provided most of the weapons for the ronin and planted the seed in Ôishi’s head about using their death status as an advantage into sabotaging Lord Kira.
Throughout the film, we were shown on numerous occasions that we should really pity Kai. That these people were treating him as an outcast or a freak. Also, we are shown to feel sympathy for Kai because of his love for someone with higher power than him (Lady Asano).
Dragon lady stereotype. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Lady
Lady Asano’s costuming seemed very strange and not correct with the time period (but I am also stating this without full knowledge of what sort of clothing was worn in that time period).
Overweight character to be seen as comedy relief. Most likely a favorite character among people, shown from the beginning he has a good heart but what the hell, let’s kill him off anyway.
The narrator at the beginning says that we first needed to know the story of old Japan but apparently old Japan had dragons?
White director.
They should have really just stuck with the original story of the 47 Ronin instead of adding the whole mystical element to it. I highly recommend people to do their own investigation and read the original story.
Pros:
There were only two characters aside from Keanu, Ôishi and the Shogun that I had seen in various other movies. Everyone else on the other hand was pulled right out of Japan. Rather refreshing. Great to finally see in our modern times that the casting director can utilize talented actors from other countries!
The movie was originally filmed in Japanese. Would have been better if they had just KEPT the movie in Japanese. But I also understand why they would need to dub it over in English for U.S. audiences.
The colors were beautiful.
One thing that I noticed and this could be me looking too far into things is that the samurai’s from Akô were all clad in red, whereas those from Lord Kira’s land were dressed in a very deep dark blue. It reminded me a lot of the Montagues and Capulets from Romeo and Juliet. Once the Akô Samurai’s were stripped of their rank, when we see them later, they are all wearing grays/blacks and then at the end of the film I found that most of them were primarily wearing black but with small pieces of red back into their costuming which I thought was great symbolism of their growth.
I also enjoyed that they kept the seppuku ritual at the end of the movie. We, as an audience are so used to seeing happy endings where everyone lives, so it was nice that they steered somewhat away from the happy ending and did what they had to do.
So that’s all I can think about for now. I might come back and edit here and there but I just wanted to get this all out before I forgot. Sorry if nothing makes sense as well, I’m running on about 4 hours of sleep. Gonna go take a nap now.