Ethnocentrism occurs when one culture appropriates something
from another culture and then attempts to enhance it. The latest version of the legendary Genroku
Akō incident, the tragic 18th century Japanese account of samurai warriors
avenging their fallen leader, displays all the vestiges of ethnocentrism. Mind you, the Japanese produced six previous cinematic
adaptations about their historic milestone before Hollywood tampered with it. For the record, those movies were “The 47
Ronin” (1941), “Chûshingura” (1958), “Chushingura” (1962), “The Fall of Ako
Castle” (1978), “47 Ronin” (1994) and “The Last Chushingura (2010). Presumably, Hollywood must have felt that this
constituted an ideal opportunity to produce its own spin on this venerable
story. Not surprisingly, Universal
Studios has taken considerable liberties with the material. Not only has the studio embroidered this renowned
tale of honor with outlandish supernatural elements, specifically demons and witchcraft,
but it also has added a half-breed European supporting character to the yarn. Presumably, Universal must have felt that
attracting an American audience to a $200-million plus film primarily about the
Japanese would only recoup its costs if a major American actor got mixed up in
it. Keanu Reeves of “The Matrix” trilogy
appears as the improbable white guy who sets the catastrophic events of the Akō
vendetta into motion as well as dictates how the Japanese can resolve their
dreadful predicament. Freshman director Carl
Rinsch and “Wanted” scenarist Chris Morgan with “Snow White and the Huntsman”
scribe Hossein Amini have fashioned a conventional chronicle of samurai versus
samurai, with a grim finale that precludes any thought of a sequel. If you know nothing about the outrageous
revisions that the filmmakers have imposed on the most celebrated instance of
the samurai code of honor, you will probably enjoy this scenic saga about sword
and sorcery a lot more. Imagine what any
important event in American history would emerge as if a Japanese individual
interfered with it and you’ll have a good idea about “47 Ronin.”
“47 Ronin” (** OUT OF ****) takes place in feudal Japan in
the 1700s. Lord Asano (Min Tanaka of
“Black Dawn”) of the Ako province adopts a wandering teenager, Kai (Keanu
Reeves), who is the son of a British sailor and a Japanese peasant. The boy’s mother abandoned him, and demons
raised him. Eventually Kai ran away from
them and Lord Asano took him in as one of his own. Kai grew up with Asano’s daughter, Mika (Kô
Shibasaki of “One Missed Call”), and the two become romantically attracted to
each other. Meanwhile, since Kai is a half-breed,
he cannot serve Lord Asano as a samurai.
Instead, he functions as the equivalent of a scout. The first major scene shows him slaying a massive
beast that resembles an enormous buffalo with tree branches for antlers. Naturally, another samurai warrior, Yasuno (Masayoshi
Haneda of “Emperor”), claims credit for the kill, but Asano’s number one
samurai, Ôishi (Hiroyuki Sanada of “The Wolverine”), knows the truth. Later, Lord Asano welcomes his supreme
leader, Shogun Tsunayoshi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa of “Mortal Combat”), to his
palatial estate along with his chief rival, Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano of “Thor:
The Dark World”), from the nearby Nagato province. The villainous Kira conspires with the aid of
a demonic, shape-shifting witch, (Rinko Kikuchi of “Pacific Rim”), to drug
Asano into attacking him. The witch uses
a bulbous spider to deliver a drug across Asano’s lips while he is asleep so
that he awakens and imagines that Kira is raping his daughter. Appalled by his own behavior, Asano follows
the dictates of the Shogun in committing ritual suicide. Ôishi blames himself for letting these events
transpire, especially after Kai warned him about the witch. Everybody but Asano and his daughter treats
Kai with utter contempt. After Asano
slashes his belly open with a knife, Ôishi completes the ordeal by decapitating
his master. The heartless Shogun
banishes all Asano’s samurai who are now designated as ronin. At the same time, Kira sells Kai into slavery
where Kai becomes a highly prized combatant in arena showdowns. The Shogun commands Mika to marry Kira after
mourning the death of her father for a year.
Kira has Ôishi thrown into a dungeon where he spends the next year. Eventually, after he is released, the
vengeance driven Ôishi assembles the remaining samurai and persuades Kai to
join them as they set out to deal with the murderous Kira.
Compared with other samurai sages, “47 Ronin” is fairly
routine stuff. The battle sequences lack
grandeur, and the sword play is pretty dull.
The massive ritual suicide at the end isn’t exactly what American
audiences will enjoy. Imagine “Star
Wars” ending with everybody eviscerating themselves at fade-out and you have a
good idea what to expect. This
big-budgeted spectacle also suffers from second-rate special effects. Most of the sprawling mountain backdrops are
clearly computer-generated, while the swirling witch’s dragon looks like something
out of a Chinatown carnival. Presumably,
Rinsch and his writers decided to rely on sorcery because nobody knows for
certain why Asano attacked his guest in real-life. The way that Asano is poisoned is reminiscent
of how the Japanese girl died at the hands of Ninjas in the James Bond movie
“You Only Live Twice.” In “You Only Live
Twice,” a ninja hid in the rafters, dangled a thread above the heroine’s mouth,
and dribbled poison down it. The witch
in “47 Ronin” behaves less spectacularly than the witch in “Snow White and the
Huntsman” that co-scripter Hossein Amini penned. The art direction, production design, and
cinematography make “47 Ronin” look more impressive than its ersatz plot. Interestingly enough, this film didn’t
impress Japanese audiences, and Universal has already written it off as a
financial disaster. Ultimately, “47
Ronin” qualifies as a tolerable movie with guts but little gusto.
