47 Ronin

[Drunk Monk]

I really wanted to hate this. Keanu bugs me. And Chushingura stands as one of my all time favs when it comes to classic chanbara flicks (I should revisit that film someday soon). the new 47 Ronin isn't horrible. It's not great, but not completely hate-able. It's kind of interesting as a reflection of East vs. West cinema. Instead of being some fantasy version of chanbara, it's more like the bombastic Chinese epics nowadays, the animated narrated intro, the sweeping landscapes, the big sets blending w/CGI. It has gaudy unrestrained colors, not the Japanese aesthetic of pageantry throughly tightly-arranged minimalism, more like the bastard child of Eiko. The saving roles are Hiroyuki Sanada as the lead ronin (he is easily my fav Japanese actor right now) and Rinki Kikuchi as the fox witch with David Bowie eyes - she vamps it up deliciously. The sword fights are ok if you overlook that the first cut is a whirling expose-my-back-to-my-enemy slash. Keanu is a jedi wannabe with his Qui-gon hairdo and glowing katana that leaves blade trails ala V for Vendetta. It's actually these poached scenes that are the most amusing, like a Tarantino flick or Divergent - the You Only Live Twice poison strand from the ceiling to the sleeping victim, the Harry Potter contrails of evil, the dutch fleet which felt Pirated from the Carribean. Keanu seems to still be wrasslin with Hapa neurosis, which is silly now as the hapa nation is rising. But still, it's nice to see a film get a U.S. theatrical release with an all Japanese cast - even the infamous Gedde Watanabe has a role. This was probably much better in 3D. the best thing I can say is that I wasn't totally offended by it.