47 Ronin (2013, Reeves)
#76
DVD Talk Hero
Re: 47 Ronin
You know, I've been dismissing every ad I've seen of this assuming it was the Keanu directed movie. A couple of days ago it hit me that they were two different movies. This one looks decent. That Man of Tai Chi one looks absolutely terrible.
#78
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Man of Tai Chi got decent reviews, I'm a bit of a sucker for martial arts flicks, plus it has Iko and Yuen did the choreography. It could be fun. It was at my local AMC for like three days, I missed it, I'm waiting for it to hit the Redbox. I'll give it a chance.
#79
DVD Talk Hero
Re: 47 Ronin
Man of Tai Chi got decent reviews, I'm a bit of a sucker for martial arts flicks, plus it has Iko and Yuen did the choreography. It could be fun. It was at my local AMC for like three days, I missed it, I'm waiting for it to hit the Redbox. I'll give it a chance.
#80
DVD Talk Hero
Re: 47 Ronin
Some guy over at IMDB (yeah, I know) claims to have seen 47 Ronin and stated that, despite the marketing, Keanu Reeves is in a supporting role and the actual lead is Hiroyuki Sanada.
#81
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
I saw the first TV spot for this today, haven't been keeping up with the trailers, didn't know it was CG heavy. Looks like it's taking on a fantasy angle, I guess they figured they just couldn't sell it as a straight samurai flick. Interestingly, while I've seen a few chanbara here and there, I've never seen an adaptation of this. Kind of surprising. I know it's apparently quite a famous story in Japan. Is that Kikuchi in the trailer doing the sexy shtick?
#82
Banned by request
Re: 47 Ronin
#83
DVD Talk Hero
Re: 47 Ronin
Fuck that sounds awesome. I had an idea years ago for an alternate history action movie where Virginia Woolf, instead of drowning herself due to her anxieties over WWII, instead goes to take down Hitler herself. The title was "Lone Woolf". I wish we had more films like that.
Yup, that's her.
And I think she (not that it's in English, heavy on the fantasy, or features Keanu Reeves in a prominent supporting role) is the real reason it bombed in Japan. The Japanese really hate Rinko Kikuchi.
#84
#85
DVD Talk Hero
#86
Banned by request
#87
DVD Talk Hero
Re: 47 Ronin
All I know is now I want Koji Yakusho to star as the lead in the prequel to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, called George Washington: Werewolf Slayer. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro.
#88
DVD Talk Legend
Re: 47 Ronin
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/sbRom1Rz8OA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
#89
DVD Talk Hero
Re: 47 Ronin
Rinko was such a fox and so was the other babe. It was a really well crafted little action picture.
I'm hoping for an UNRATED or Extended version BD, because:
Spoiler:
Last edited by Why So Blu?; 12-20-13 at 01:17 AM.
#91
DVD Talk Hero
Re: 47 Ronin
#93
DVD Talk Hero
Re: 47 Ronin
My friend wrote up his review and also liked it. This is the cat I went to see the film with last week. Scott Mendelson, as well. He also gave it a favorable review.
"47 Ronin is an enjoyable hybrid period action/fantasy movie that was much better than I was expecting. Granted I am generally pretty satisfied with Keanu Reeves action movies, but a lot of the surprise came from how different this very expensive movie played out. Along with putting the money on screen, this is a film that is very much inspired by samurai films and strives to play like one, in terms of its pacing and devotion to portraying the notion of honor. With that, the film also blends into other genres as well, most notably a swashbuckling adventure, with some fantasy elements thrown in for good measure. All of this made for a fun film that felt unlike a lot of expensive action films like it, especially given that its main star is really a supporting character. It is just too bad it will likely make next to nothing in theaters."
http://whysoblu.com/47-ronin-movie-review/
"47 Ronin is an enjoyable hybrid period action/fantasy movie that was much better than I was expecting. Granted I am generally pretty satisfied with Keanu Reeves action movies, but a lot of the surprise came from how different this very expensive movie played out. Along with putting the money on screen, this is a film that is very much inspired by samurai films and strives to play like one, in terms of its pacing and devotion to portraying the notion of honor. With that, the film also blends into other genres as well, most notably a swashbuckling adventure, with some fantasy elements thrown in for good measure. All of this made for a fun film that felt unlike a lot of expensive action films like it, especially given that its main star is really a supporting character. It is just too bad it will likely make next to nothing in theaters."
http://whysoblu.com/47-ronin-movie-review/
#97
Re: 47 Ronin
http://latino-review.com/2013/12/film-review-47-ronin/
Just the highlights :
47 Ronin
....47 Ronin reeks of a smug movie studio think-tank getting together to brainstorm about what cash-cow films and franchises that were or are hot at the moment and how they could possibly capitalize on their success. Throw some swashbuckling fun in there from Pirates of the Caribbean, throw in some stylized mythology-based action like 300, throw in some weird fantasy elements like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, maybe some outsider heroic backstory like in Gladiator, and then you have your generic Star Wars-inspired hero’s journey mumbo jumbo and bada-bing bada-boom you make your boatloads of money. At least they thought they’d make their boatloads of money. This movie is so thematically disjointed, tonally unstable, laboriously paced, and is a complete mockery of the revered real-life story of the forty-seven ronin upon which it is based. It’s complete garbage, borderline racist, and one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.......
.....This was a tough one, folks. I’ve seen a lot of stinkers but for some reason this one was an absolute insult even to the stinkers. Sometimes I see a bad movie and say to myself I never want to see that again, and then maybe I come across it on TV and give it a second shot or whatever. But 47 Ronin is a movie I will actively try not to see again for the sake of my intelligence and sanity. I kept thinking of other overblown and sort-of-idiosyncratic adaptations of myths and stories like the pathetic 2003 movie version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Bryan Singer’s unbearable Jack The Giant Slayer from earlier this year, but at least those showed some semblance of creativity however intolerable the final product was. 47 Ronin desperately tries to make you think it’s creative and epic and distinctive, yet it’s anything but.
Rating: F
Just the highlights :
47 Ronin
....47 Ronin reeks of a smug movie studio think-tank getting together to brainstorm about what cash-cow films and franchises that were or are hot at the moment and how they could possibly capitalize on their success. Throw some swashbuckling fun in there from Pirates of the Caribbean, throw in some stylized mythology-based action like 300, throw in some weird fantasy elements like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, maybe some outsider heroic backstory like in Gladiator, and then you have your generic Star Wars-inspired hero’s journey mumbo jumbo and bada-bing bada-boom you make your boatloads of money. At least they thought they’d make their boatloads of money. This movie is so thematically disjointed, tonally unstable, laboriously paced, and is a complete mockery of the revered real-life story of the forty-seven ronin upon which it is based. It’s complete garbage, borderline racist, and one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.......
.....This was a tough one, folks. I’ve seen a lot of stinkers but for some reason this one was an absolute insult even to the stinkers. Sometimes I see a bad movie and say to myself I never want to see that again, and then maybe I come across it on TV and give it a second shot or whatever. But 47 Ronin is a movie I will actively try not to see again for the sake of my intelligence and sanity. I kept thinking of other overblown and sort-of-idiosyncratic adaptations of myths and stories like the pathetic 2003 movie version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Bryan Singer’s unbearable Jack The Giant Slayer from earlier this year, but at least those showed some semblance of creativity however intolerable the final product was. 47 Ronin desperately tries to make you think it’s creative and epic and distinctive, yet it’s anything but.
Rating: F
#98
DVD Talk Legend
Re: 47 Ronin
I really wanted to see this, but I've only heard a handful of positive reviews. This is getting shredded on RT. I may just way for it to come to Redbox.
#99
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
I'm still waiting for Man of Tai Chi to come to Redbox, I don't know what's taking them so long. Is 47 Ronin the director's first film? What did he come out of, commercials or music videos or something like that?
Last edited by hanshotfirst1138; 12-24-13 at 01:30 PM.
#100
Moderator
Re: 47 Ronin
My friend wrote up his review and also liked it. This is the cat I went to see the film with last week. Scott Mendelson, as well. He also gave it a favorable review.
"47 Ronin is an enjoyable hybrid period action/fantasy movie that was much better than I was expecting. Granted I am generally pretty satisfied with Keanu Reeves action movies, but a lot of the surprise came from how different this very expensive movie played out. Along with putting the money on screen, this is a film that is very much inspired by samurai films and strives to play like one, in terms of its pacing and devotion to portraying the notion of honor. With that, the film also blends into other genres as well, most notably a swashbuckling adventure, with some fantasy elements thrown in for good measure. All of this made for a fun film that felt unlike a lot of expensive action films like it, especially given that its main star is really a supporting character. It is just too bad it will likely make next to nothing in theaters."
http://whysoblu.com/47-ronin-movie-review/
"47 Ronin is an enjoyable hybrid period action/fantasy movie that was much better than I was expecting. Granted I am generally pretty satisfied with Keanu Reeves action movies, but a lot of the surprise came from how different this very expensive movie played out. Along with putting the money on screen, this is a film that is very much inspired by samurai films and strives to play like one, in terms of its pacing and devotion to portraying the notion of honor. With that, the film also blends into other genres as well, most notably a swashbuckling adventure, with some fantasy elements thrown in for good measure. All of this made for a fun film that felt unlike a lot of expensive action films like it, especially given that its main star is really a supporting character. It is just too bad it will likely make next to nothing in theaters."
http://whysoblu.com/47-ronin-movie-review/
I agree with the summary above, we enjoyed it. Quite a bit... not enough that I'm considering purchasing the bluray, but I did like the movie for what it was.
I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the Ronin take down
Spoiler:
I'd recommend a matinee if anything. You might like it... if you're like me and not super critical of movies.
Grade: B-