47 Ronin

SPOILERS

I've decided that it's just too hard to write about films without giving away any of the plot. So from now on posts that start with the word SPOILERS are going to contain plot details.

I watched 47 Ronin with friends who are really into Japanese culture. They seemed to know about the original story, which I assumed was a legend since the film starts off talking about dragons and demons. But the original story is actually a real-life story from 18th century Japan. There actually were 47 Ronin who avenged their lord ... it's just Hollywood that added the demons and dragons.

And that's where the film falls down for me. It's neither a fully fledged historic drama nor an all out fantasy action film. It is a bit of both. Both angles are done pretty well: I thought the historical parts were fascinating and the action parts were exciting and fun. But they just don't seem to fit together all that well. I think I would have preferred just one or the other... or both as separate films.

I think the most telling example of the discord is in the ending. As an action adventure film the good guys have to win and get the girl. As a historical drama the ronin have to die (granted a samurai death by the Shogun with their honour restored). So they die, but Keanu Reeves character gets some vague line about searching for the girl across all worlds for ever until he finds her. Hmm, OK, that's fine then.