Who tells the 47 Ronin story best?

Many books and movies have been created to inspire others with the famous story of the Japanese Samurai and these 47 loyal Ronin.  I've never read any of the books or seen the movies until now.  Have you?  I'm curious which ones have held true to the tale.  Here's my take on the newest film to bring the story to life from my movie review blog, Movie Review Maven:

Movie Title:  47 Ronin

Grade: B

In a Nutshell:  It’s as if this long movie couldn’t decide which one it wanted to be: epic war history or CGI action fantasy.  I love Keanu Reeves and wanted this movie to be legendary for him, but it just falls short of being very memorable.  It prides itself as telling a true Japanese story, yet it mixes in modern CGI villains that spoil the authenticity.  The movie takes itself very seriously, but has a few humorous moments, such as when a pudgy Ronin tries to cut a branch with Keanu’s sharp sword.  (Is Ronin plural?  What’s one Ronin called?  Roni?)

In case you didn’t know already, a Ronin is a masterless Samurai and the film is a remake of others made in 1994 and 1941.  While many critics have been quite rough on this version, if you’re interested in Japanese lore, you’ll still find plenty to enjoy here.

Uplifting theme: I thought the ceremony with bloody thumbprints on paper was powerful.  Oishi inspires with this short speech: “We will leave this record of courage so the world will know who we were and what we did.  Tonight, we will regain our honor and avenge our Lord.  None of us knows how long he shall live or when our time will come.  But soon, all that will be left of our brief lives is the pride our children feel when they speak our names.”

At the end of the movie, the narrator explains “the memory of the 47 Ronin who put duty and justice before their fear of death has lived down through the centuries as one of the greatest examples of loyalty and honor in Japanese culture.”  The screen then shows text, telling the reader that each year, on December 14^th, thousands of people from around the world visit the graves of the 47 Ronin to pay their respects.  This film was inspired by their story.”  That statement alone made me want to learn more about the true tale.

Things I liked:   I love symbolism and the movie provides a few touches, such as the candles blowing out when one of the Samurai dies or when the Ronin wear white robes to show purity in obedience, surrounding a white tree in the middle, representing the pillar of tradition.  I also love it when Keanu calmly tells someone he’s going to kick their butt.  Rinko Kikuchi gave a sexy and bewitching performance.

Things I didn’t like:  The boy who plays Keanu’s character (Kai) when younger speaks with a British accent, but the older Kai does not.  Someone should have caught that little inconsistency.  The prejudice against Kai, the “half-breed” seemed a little too familiar and tired for a movie theme, although certainly experienced in many societies still today.  Maybe I’m just tired of ignorance.

Funny lines:

• “I knew it was you.  I saw your belly sticking out from behind the tree.”  - Kai
• “I knew you’d come for me.”  - Mika  (Wow, how many times have we heard that from melting starlets?)
• My niece lived in Japan for a year and a half and told me oishi means “delicious”, so I thought it was interesting that one of the character’s names was Oishi.

Inspiring lines:

• “Mountains of corpses will not stand in our way.” - Witch (Wow, that’s dedication, eh?)
• “What I propose ends in death.  Even if we succeed we will be hanged.”  - Oishi  (It’s hard to inspire people with a speech like that.)
• “A Samurai does not take credit for victories of others.”  - Oishi
• “I will search for you to a thousand worlds and a thousand lifetimes until I find you.”   - SPOILER ALERT  - Kai  (Now that’s romantic, right?)
• When a crime goes unpunished, the world is unbalanced.  When a wrong is unavenged, the heavens look down on us in shame.” – Oishi
• “My father told me that this world was only a preparation for the next.  All we can ask is that we leave it, having loved and being loved.”  - Mika

Things to look for:

• wooden Japanese shoes worn by the King Lord guy
• Samurai wear 2 swords

Tips for parents:  No profanity and mostly bloodless fighting.  It features honor and loyalty, but also revenge.  It’s certainly an opportunity to discuss those values as a family.  Young children may get a little bored.  

If you saw this movie, I'd love to hear what you thought about it!

In case you're interested in learning more about this famous Japanese story, check out these other versions of the retelling:

The Wolverine comes to life and death from comic books to the big screen

Don’t you just love Hugh Jackman?  He’s like an action figure that can sing and dance.   The Wolverine is a journey into one of X-Men’s most conflicted and developed characters on screen.  If you love Wolverine, you’re going to love this movie.  If you’re not familiar with the famous steel-taloned superhero from the comic books, you’ll still be entertained.

 

Within the first ten minutes of the show, the audience is treated with some background story, amazing CGI of the blast at Nagasaki and a close-up view of how a superhero recovers from atomic burns.  Wolverine saves a young Japanese soldier from the bomb, who later wants to repay his kindness before dying as an old man…a rich old man.  Most of the film takes place in Japan, combining ancient Japanese tradition with the ageless history of Wolverine.

 

For the ladies, Hugh Jackman is often topless, revealing an impressively sculpted body and evidence of a hard-working actor.  Movie critic Roger Ebert calls him a “metal-clawed mountain of muscle.”  For the guys, Jackman shows off some cool action moves and quick fighting sequences, enough to match skills with the most awesome of ninjas.  And yes, there ARE ninjas in the movie.  Who doesn’t like a good ninja?  Well, unfortunately, the ones in this movie are all bad.

 

The Wolverine battles with lots of bad guys in this movie, as well as himself, as he decides what is worth living for in his immortal life or what is worth dying for.  Logan must decide whether or not to accept the gift of mortality from his old friend, Kenuichio Harada who is now a billionaire and head of a technology company that can help the Wolverine get the thing he wants most: death. 

 

Hugh Jackman and director James Mangold worked together before in Kate & Leopold.  The writers provide Logan with lots of flashbacks and moments to reflect, sometimes making you want to yell at the screen “Just snap out of it already and be awesome!”

 

Rila Fukushima plays Yukio, a young Manga-inspired body-guard, complete with red hair, rockin black boots, and admirable loyalty.  Tao Okamoto plays Mariko, the grand-daughter of Harada and heir to his fortune. While Wolverine struggles with guilt from his lost love, Jean, he carefully falls for Mariko and is sworn to protect her.

 

Russian actress Svetlana Khodchenkova plays Viper, a mutant doctor who wears ridiculously sexy outfits to hold the audience’s attention, yet doesn’t have much depth to her character.  Maybe in a sequel we’ll learn more about her?  While she gets lots of cute fashion ensembles, Wolverine is either topless or sports a wife-beater t-shirt a la Bruce Willis in the Die Hard movies.  I like the way his hair tweaks out on the sides to make him look like the comic book figure.

 

The bath tub scene is pretty cute where some female Japanese servants help transform the scruffy Logan from a cave man who hangs out in the wilderness into a clean superhero.     Another funny scene is when the Minister of Justice gets thrown out of a window wearing red underwear.

 

The impressive fight scene atop a bullet train in Japan makes the recent Lone Ranger train scenes pale in comparison.  Unfortunately, the ending was a bit cheesy, as well as a few lame lines like when Wolverine says “Don’t hit my friends” or when he answers the question “What kind of monster are you?” with “The Wolverine.”  Since I’m a mom of 4 boys, I hate it when the hero has to drop F-bombs to make an impact, like when he says “Go F___ yourself, Pretty Boy.”  Yeah, the audience laughed, but surely the writers could have come up with something more witty and appropriate for young boys everywhere to mimic for weeks after watching the film.

 

The end of the movie presents a Pacific Rim Samurai version of a robot that is kind of cool.   A line often repeated by Rila Fukushima in the movie describes it well….”interesting.”  Hamada calls Logan a “ronin”, a Samurai without a master.  Interestingly, before the movie began a trailer played for an upcoming movie entitled “47 Ronin” which should offer some impressive fight scenes that even the Wolverine would want to join in on.

 

 

PG-13, 120 minutes.