FILM REVIEW OF ''47 RONIN" (2013)

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 18^th 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.

FILM REVIEW OF ''TWILIGHT: ECLIPSE" (2010)

Stephenie Meyers and the people producing the cinematic adaptations of her supernatural “Twilight” novels know how to stretch a good thing out. Happily, the elasticity in this interspecies romance franchise hasn’t frayed over the last two blockbuster films. The outstanding third installment, “30 Days of Night” director David Slade’s “Eclipse” (**** out of ****) literally eclipses both “Twilight” and “New Moon” with more action that either predecessor boasted. Not only do the pugnacious werewolves look more realistic, but also “Twilight” scenarist Melissa Rosenberg has intensified the competition in the three-way romance between Bella and her two jealous suitors Edward and Jacob. Indeed, Edward and Jacob have at least two substantial, well-written scenes where they analyze their behavior toward each other in light of Bella. They engage in verbal jousting matches without striking each other. Mind you, the narrative remains somewhat predictable. Bella still yearns to be a vampire, while Edward staunchly opposes her obsession. Basically, the action focuses on unfinished business. When Edward isn’t trying to dissuade Bella from becoming a vampire, Jacob struggles to convince our heroine that she really loves him. Jacob argues that nothing serious will change if she chooses him instead of Edward. Some of the narrative threads left over from “Twilight” that were partially tied up in “New Moon” are sewn up in "Eclipse." The wicked Victoria has been biding her time to exact sweet revenge on Edward for destroying her vampire lover James. Further, the Volturi lurk on the fringe of the mayhem with malice aforethought.

“Eclipse” opens in Seattle where twentysomething Forks’ native Riley Biers (Xavier Samuels of “Road Kill”) leaves a nightspot after dark during a light downpour. Without warning or provocation, an unseen assailant assaults him in a lonely alley. No matter what Riley does, the poor fellow cannot elude his attacker. Indeed, we can see little more than Riley, just a blur of something menacing him. On the docks, the mysterious aggressor slashes at Riley’s hand, and Riley winds up on his face writhing in agony. “Eclipse” gets off to a grim start, but things lighten up as the scene shifts to Forks in a remote meadow where Bella and Edward are discussing matters of the heart. Interestingly, the film concludes with them back in the same meadow as a prelude to the last “Twilight” movie “Breaking Dawn.” Meanwhile, Bella’s father, Forks County Sheriff Charlie (Billy Burke of “Jane Austen's Mafia!”), doesn’t have a clue about Edward and Bella’s relationship. He knows that they are an item, but he doesn’t know that Edward is a vampire. Basically, Charlie would prefer Bella to see somebody other than Edward and urges her to visit Jacob. Naturally, Edward abhors every second that Bella spends with Jacob. Edward assures Bella that he trusts her, but Edward puts no trust in Jacob.

Meanwhile, clairvoyant vampire Alice (Ashley Greene of “King of California”) has a vision about the turmoil in Seattle. She cannot put her finger on who is fomenting the trouble. Eventually, the Cullens learn that an army of newborn vampires is being assembled in Seattle, but they don’t know who is supervising this army. After a time, they learn that Forks’ native Riley Biers, who has been reported as missing, may be at the core of the problem. Predictably, Edward tries to shield Bella from the truth, but he doesn’t get any help from Jacob. Earlier, Edward and Bella flew to Florida so she could spend time with her mom. During their absence, the vampires fractured the treaty with the Indians. They were pursuing fleet-footed, gravity-defying, high-jumping Victoria through the forest when she hurls herself across a stream into werewolf country. Emmett Cullen (Kellan Lutz of “Accepted”) finds himself face-to-face with a snarling werewolf while Victoria gives both of them the slip. Not surprisingly, Jacob is appalled that Edward hasn’t informed Bella about the incident or that it involved red-haired Victoria. Essentially, Jacob and his tribe enter the fight when they learn that vampires may storm the county. Of course, neither the newborns nor the Volturi know anything about Jacob and his shape-shifting werewolves.

The violence in “Eclipse” is quite stylized. When the vampires attack each other, they look like they are playing a game of old-fashioned football where the goal is to batter the opponents more than score a touchdown. The fatal blows that are delivered make it look like our heroes are smashing live-action statues. Not only do the vampires refrain from baring their fangs, but also blood and gore is confined within the limits of a PG-13 rating. You’d have to be hopelessly squeamish to have nightmares as a result of the action sequences. According to Dr. Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli of “Supernova”), these ‘newborn’ vampires pose a threat because they possess greater strength than either the Cullens or any other vampire. The reason is that the newborns still have some of their own human blood swirling in their systems. The newborns live to the hilt of their existence, and they have a difficult time keeping a low profile. If you remember “New Moon,” you will remember that the law of the Volturi, the Supreme Count of Vampires, condemns any fangster who calls attention to himself individually or collectively their breed. The ‘newborns’ have lost all sense of control. Jasper Whitlock (Harpo Marx look-alike Jackson Rathbone of “S. Darko”) coaches the Cullen family about how to defeat newborns. Never let them get their hands around you, Jasper warns, and never make an obvious move.

The thing that holds this gothic melodrama together so well is the theme of change. “Eclipse” examines Bella's decision to renounce human life in favor of vampire life and the various opinions that the Cullen clan as well as Jacob offer about her dilemma. Like previous “Twilight” directors, David Slade seems to know when to let the drama dominate and the violence bristle. Nevertheless, Slade also knows when to insert humor that lightens the mood without undercutting the melodrama. Moreover, “Eclipse” provides a glimpse into the lives of Jasper and Rosalie and how they became vampires. The high school graduation speech that Jessica Stanley (Anna Kendrick of “Up In the Air”) delivers is refreshingly different. “New Moon” lenser Javier Aguirresarobe encores as director of photography, and he creates a palate of moody colors that reflect the tension and the atmosphere. He also captures the stunning pictorial beauty of the surroundings as well as the luminous cast with his widescreen compositions. In short, “Eclipse” qualifies as a grand looking movie. If you loved “Twilight” and “New Moon,” you should crave “Eclipse.”