47 RONIN

Just saw the trailer. Looks pretty cool. Keanu Reeves directing and starring in it. His phlegmatic acting should translate better as an early 18th century Samurai.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8cKdDkkIYY

Obviously a high fantasy version of it.

Dragons obviously, which look fantastic. I think the guy in yellow is a Tengu Lord. The small raptor beak nose works better than the usual big ones, that'd probably look more silly.

Apparently the guy with the face tattoos is like that in real life, those are real. I'd guess he's some sort of European Wako since he's toting pistols and has all the tattoos.

Of course this is set in the golden age of piracy internationally but I doubt there will be too much external influence on the story besides the leading character Kai being half Occidental half Oriental (just like Keanu Reeves... how convenient.)

Originally Posted by YouTube Guy

Congrats to 300 and Last Samurai on the healthy baby...

Lol.

Doesn't look terrible I guess, but I'm not digging the fantasy stuff.

Originally Posted by Katsumoto

Lol.

Doesn't look terrible I guess, but I'm not digging the fantasy stuff.

History is gay. Ask any Hollywood producer.

This film does look pretty awesome.

I first heard about it a while back and I though it would be a historical action drama based on the actual 47 Ronin. I stopped watching the trailer as soon as the 300 blade hands guy appeared.

There are some historical stories that take on near mythic levels in any culture. To do that to the 47 Ronin is an abomination. It's not that you cannot alter things to be entertaining or take some license, but to completely alter the story as to make it unrecognizable to anything close to history, then why even bother to name it 47 Ronin at all?

TWC biases strike again!

It's not historically accurate.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hehe!

13th Warrior, 300, 47 Ronin...
Is it me, or is there some sort of pattern that we're missing here?

I'm not even sure why you're bringing up 13th Warrior...Eaters of the Dead was fully and completely fiction, including the references to research material that never existed.

Half-Japanese actor estranged from his culture and without a hit movie in ages, decides to make his directorial debut and cast himself as the leader of a legendary group of suicidal revenge-seekers but dresses things up in fantasy to cater to the effects-addicted Hollywood establishment and escape the story's true implications?

I'll pass.

Originally Posted by O'Hea

Half-Japanese actor estranged from his culture and without a hit movie in ages, decides to make his directorial debut and cast himself as the leader of a legendary group of suicidal revenge-seekers but dresses things up in fantasy to cater to the effects-addicted Hollywood establishment and escape the story's true implications?

I'll pass.

Reeves is half Japanese?What?

Here's a concept: tell the real story of the 47 Ronin with appropriate costumes and realistic flawed characters. Don't make them all beautiful and with perfect physiques. Don't let them always say the most perfect lines. Let them be absolutely human.

The 47 Ronin is not a story about special effects, political correctness, spectacle, etc. It's a film about honor, sacrifice, loss, ruin, and destruction. I feel sick that they did this in this manner.
http://www.samurai-archives.com/ronin.html

Hollywood is ruining cinema. More is not better. More means focusing so much money on a gamble of visual orgy and sacrificing story and humanity and art. It almost would be better to only watch independent films from now on.

If one wanted to make it realistic, tell it from the opposite point of view. Allow both sides of the feud and those who witnessed and criticized and who were advocates for either side to be human characters who struggled with the ideas of Chivalry (Bushido) and Duty (Giri). There are so many important philosophical questions versus the role of a samurai within the confines of community and political reality.

Instead we have some supernatural mish-mash and the story is no longer recognizable.

47 lawless ronin that tried to seek revenge through assassination.

Originally Posted by hellheaven1987

47 lawless ronin that tried to seek revenge through assassination.

One can reduce just about every historical conflict to similar single sentences and completely miss all of the complexities of the situation. Sorry, that is an extremely narrow and unjustified observation on a highly complex situation of both duty to one's Master, clan, and self versus adhering to a terrible injustice.

If that's how simplistic you think, then maybe you should watch the latest Hollywood version of the 47 Ronin and not tax any brain cells.

Originally Posted by RubiconDecision

There are some historical stories that take on near mythic levels in any culture. To do that to the 47 Ronin is an abomination. It's not that you cannot alter things to be entertaining or take some license, but to completely alter the story as to make it unrecognizable to anything close to history, then why even bother to name it 47 Ronin at all?

This is my opinion as well. I saw the 1941 as well as the 1962 version of the story, and they were both great. Whoever decided to name this movie 47 Ronin should be beaten senseless with kendo sticks.

Originally Posted by BM309K58SMERCH

13th Warrior, 300, 47 Ronin...
Is it me, or is there some sort of pattern that we're missing here?

I highly recommend 13 Assassins, a worthy remake of the 1963 classic. One of the best samurai movies made in the last 20-30 years.

Originally Posted by Maximinus Thrax

I highly recommend 13 Assassins, a worthy remake of the 1963 classic. One of the best samurai movies made in the last 20-30 years.

I second the recommendation. There's a movie that handled samurai the right way- catching both the glory and the horror of warrior life. Serious, mature, and grave. And also it had the single biggest bloodsplosion I've ever seen in a movie.

Have to actually watch the movie to make a real judgement, though the trailer seems to have picked scenes that make it difficult to suspend disbelief.

You want a modern American take on it?

Burn Notice: Tokyo Drift.

The tale of the 47 Ronin is no less mythic than the American stories of the Revolutionary War. That story is that sacred. Imagine the same thing done to George Washington, and you'd feel the same revulsion.

The 1941 version of the 47 Ronin was made in 1941. As you can imagine, it was not exactly popular with international audiences. That said, it's a fine movie. It's long because it's broken into two parts. There's a scene when they samurai realize that they'll be allowed to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) and they feel joy to be honored so. It's practically impossible for Western audiences to comprehend it without seeing it. I'd bet that people would like the 1962 version better. That one has Toshiro Mifune.

There are so many samurai films that are considered art. Why not see one of those instead of this wretched piece of excess?

Here's the trailer to 13 Assassins. The only problem I have with it is the extremely high body count. In a way it ruins it because then the heroes seem like demigods instead of regular men.


Skip the latest 47 Ronin and see something fantastic like Twilight Samurai.

Originally Posted by RubiconDecision

There's a scene when they samurai realize that they'll be allowed to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) and they feel joy to be honored so. It's practically impossible for Western audiences to comprehend it without seeing it.

I was thinking of watching those two versions, they seem very faithful and realistic to the original story. Soon after, I'll follow up with Yojimbo and Seven Samurai, I heard those are epic too.