47 Ronin

In “47 Ronin,” a group of 47 leader-less samurais (or ronin) seek revenge on a warlord that managed to have their leader killed as well as having them banished from their own village. Whether they want to or not, they are in desperate need of the assistance of an outcast “half-breed” named Kai (Keanu Reeves). One of the major obstacles for ronin is the warlord has dark magic, mythical beast, and a shape shifting witch at his command. Will the 47 Ronin avenge the death of their fallen leader and get their lives back by defeating the warlord and his minions? You are going to have to watch the movie to find out.

Shakefire had the chance to review the Blu-ray 3D version of “47 Ronin” and I must admit the 3D effects in the movie were pretty well done for a live action movie. There were some gimmicky 3D effects used, like some objects popping out at you, but most of the 3D in the movie was subtle and added depth to the whole movie and looked great for most of the scenes. However, the computer animation ranged from very nicely done and very realistic to slightly amateurish. Some consistency in the computer animation would have a lot more to the visual appeal of the movie. I did like all the bonus content included with the movie, such as deleted scenes, and featurettes focusing on the fight scenes and the monster in the movie.

My two main gripes about “47 Ronin” were the pacing of the movie and Keanu Reeves. The movie is so slow in the beginning and takes forever to build up momentum. I wanted more action and was expecting more fight scenes throughout the movie, but most of the both occurred towards the second half. As for Keanu, his acting felt dry and out of place in the whole universe 47 Ronin attempts to submerge you in. The supporting cast seemed to mesh a lot more and Keanu looked and really felt like an outcast in this movie.

The music was well done and really set the mood for the film, but the slow pacing and Keanu slowed everything down and felt a bit awkward. The visual were nicely varied and had the potential to make the movie visually stunning, but could have used a bit more detail and more work focused on it. After watching the trailer, I was expecting 47 Ronin to be similar to a live action anime movie with all the fighting and mythical creatures, but was a bit disappointed with the end result not meeting my expectations. The movie tells a good story, but wish they could have a better job on how they told the story. For those reasons, I am giving the 3D version of 47 Ronin a “C-.”