47 Ronin and this other movie too

I saw 47 Ronin two days ago and have been mulling this review over ever since. I confess right up front that I am a Keanu Reeves fan, though I really don't know why. I've seen just about everything he's done, some of his films multiple times, yet the reasons I like him so continue to escape me. More research is likely needed.

He's certainly not the most expressive actor out there. Yet I think he's come to terms with this and has found ways around it that makes him actually a better actor than many who learned to chew the scenery while young and never got past that technique. There is, for instance, a moment in 47 Ronin when he slides a door closed and expresses wonderful emotion with an action, rather than with his face.

47 Ronin is a strange movie. It's probably the worst expression of the 'back of a napkin' movie making since some clever clot decided what 'The Three Musketeers' really needed was flying ships. Classics are classics for a reason, Hollywood. Please figure this out before you give Elizabeth Bennet an AK-47 and Jane Eyre a jet-powered balloon. Thank you.

On the one hand, we have the classic expression of the Japanese soul that is Chūshingura, a tale of men determined to have righteous revenge for the death of their sovereign lord. The Ronin are seeking to take the life of Lord Kira and to keep him from marrying their late lord's daughter which would give him control of their land. It's well-done, with a stellar performance by Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine) as the leader of the group. He has equal screentime with Reeves, the nominal star, and some particularly touching scenes with his wife and son.

Lord Kira is played by Tadanobu Asano (Thor, Thor 2) who apparently took some lessons from Tom Hiddleston on his last film. There's a moment when he invites the lovely Lady Mika, ensnared in his machinations, to enjoy his wicked delight in his own evil ways with a smile that Loki could not have bettered. I think Asano was pretty much wasted in the Thor films if he can be this good at being this bad. He is assisted in his evil plots by a witch, Rinko Kikuchi (Pacific Rim), for whom I sincerely wish there'd been a backstory. Kudos to the film-makers for at least attempting to include a little 'fox-magic', a fascinating facet of Japanese myth.

And this is where the movie turns into something else than the classic tale. You see, someone decided that what this movie really needed was Keanu Reeves. I guess they just didn't trust American audiences to respond the way we did to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. So they tried to weave in a story about a guy (half-white) who has to rescue the princess from an evil lord and his witch/girlfriend. But you can't just shuffle two scripts together and expect *magic* to happen.

For one thing, though the lovers are supposed to be contemporaries in age, Keanu Reeves, while still looking great, is a 49-year-old man. He's not 30 while the lovely
K� Shibasaki is 32. I congratulate the producers for not choosing a 22 year old. However, the daughter of a lord at the time would have been married off years prior, especially when her father knows she's got a soft spot in her heart for a landless, family-less, possibly demon-haunted man. If you're going to set up a love story, then make it a love story without dragging in the 47 Ronin and if you are going to set up the 47 Ronin, why bring in a totally irrelevant love story?

Either movie alone would have been fine. Together, it's a mess. I can't wait until the clever citizens of the internet world re-cut this thing so that we have two films. It wouldn't be tough. There are only two sequences where they meld with any style.

Speaking of style, this movie looks terrific. The set-design and costuming are pure Oscar bail. It's my hope that the hard work done by the cinematographer and the art departments don't get overlooked because they are in a not-very-successful movie.

Standouts among the 47 are the newcomers Takato Yonemato and Hiroshi Sogabe. You will likely recognize Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles) as the leader of an acting troupe.

As for my dear Mr. Reeves, if you really want to make a movie that isn't going to do well at the box office, how about a sequel to Constantine?