Utter mess

Full Review: http://awelshmansblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/friday-film-review-no-3 4-47-ronin-2013/

I looked at this film for a good 90min and I had no idea what was going on. I could establish that the costume/set design was very nice, but as far as the story goes I could not tell what anyone was trying to do or why anything was happening.

This was a very odd experience and was no doubt the result of the rather troubled production this film endured. As far as I understand it, the director (who has apparently trained under the guidance of Ridley Scott) was unable to pull it together in the edit and the studio took over post-production.

Such a step rarely results in a good film being released, and it’s clear that 47 Ronin is further evidence to support that theory.

Given its utter incoherence it’s a struggle to recall much about what actually happened in it. There was certainly a lot of CGI and death, yet i’m utterly unable to recall why any of it was used other than to make a strange giant elephant thing and to give others lizard type yellow eyes.

But beyond its general babble what irritated me most about it was how much it talked down to its audience. Samurais have a rich cinematic history and as such I find it hard to imagine how anyone would ever attempt to release a samurai film without knowing its audience would also be aware of what has gone before. As such I don’t think they need to take the time to explain what Seppuku is.

To me this is the equivalent of them explaining what an EMP is in every single American action movie between Broken Arrow and Avatar. We get it, move on!

But then again maybe the average Keanu Reeves fan doesn’t watch that much Kurosawa?

So… 47 Ronin is definitely one to miss out if you can.