Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

laurencegreen "What do you see?" *pointing to a branch*"A branch?" Mika replied"No, a deer" said Kai, who had now switched his focus onto an actual dearDull dialogue Dull story Not even keanu reeves could save this

hannahraescool I think this film received a lot of bad critics that it doesn't deserves. I really likes it. Just watching it at home. Even enjoyed it enough to watch it a second time. My brother also really likes this movie. And he is pretty hard to please.

Leofwine_draca 47 RONIN tells the famous story about vengeful ex-samurai seeking revenge for their former master and of course is one of the most famous true life events in the whole of Japanese history. This big bucks Hollywood adaptation of the tale takes the basic facts and moulds them into an expensive, expansive fantasy film. If you're looking for somebody to blame for what might be termed a travesty, go no further than Universal, who apparently viewed the first cut and told the director to add more 'Harry Potter style fantasy sequences'.Because Harry Potter-style action is just what this film needs, of course. Thus 47 RONIN is full of incessantly poor CGI action spectacle that reminded me a little of THE EMPEROR AND THE WHITE SNAKE, a similarly silly production made by the Chinese. Take out the fantasy and you have a moderately interesting revenge story; leave it in and you get a ridiculously overblown story with effects that have already dated in just the few years since the film was released.The cast is the most interesting thing about the production. Keanu Reeves, no stranger to the wiles of Asian cinema, takes on the same role as Tom Cruise in THE LAST SAMURAI, acting as the western audience's way into the tale. It's not one of his better performances. Thankfully, the casting director has gone out of their way to include genuine Japanese talent, including Masayoshi Haneda (MEMORIES OF MATSUKO), Tadanobu Asano (TOKYO ZOMBIE), Ko Shibasaki (ONE MISSED CALL), Min Tanaka (THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI), and of course the great and immortal Hiroyuki Sanada, one of my favourite Japanese actors. All give solid performances, and the main casting problem lies with Rinko Kikuchi (PACIFIC RIM), whose acting as the evil witch is pantomime-style over the top.47 RONIN does have plenty of action and spectacle to recommend it, but even scenes of the characters crossing a wild landscape are reminiscent of the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. The action scenes are quite good and I liked the attempts to bring certain creatures from Japanese mythology to the screen, even if they're not always successful. It was also a delight to see Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa NOT playing a villain for a change. In the end, though, this is another Hollywood bastardisation of an eastern fable, and as such it can't be forgiven easily for its mistakes.

Gavin Cresswell (gavin-thelordofthefu-48-460297) I haven't heard of the 47 Ronin story this was based on, but given it's reception and it's failure at the box office, I might want to do some research when I have a chance. I mean, the trailers looked great and exciting for the most part, but unfortunately, Universal Pictures didn't realize that the marketing for the film wasn't that good. Not to mention that it came out the same month as The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which garnered more attention There are some good things about the film. The acting is fine for the most part. Keanu Reeves from The Matrix, Rinko Kikuchi from Pacific Rim, and everyone else involved did their best. The costumes are nice and there are some nice details, but there two of the best things about this film. Ilan Eshkeri, the guy who composed the score for Stardust, does a great job with his music here, using authentic Japanese violins, gives some scope to the film, and some really neat action cues. And then there's the visuals. John Mathieson, who did the cinematography for Ridley Scott's films including Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, and Robin Hood, creates some of the best visuals for a live-action feature film. The landscapes, the forests, the mountains, and the medieval-like Japanese setting has some great detail. Oh, and the special effects are really neat too especially the dragon. Kudos to that.And now for the bad parts. I understand that it tries to be accurate to the historical event this was based on, but the only problem is, it takes itself way too seriously. The script is really stale, the dialog is really clichéd, the characters are one-dimensional and are really undeveloped, the writing is really terrible, and the pacing is really boring. Which is a shame, because the money for the production design was well-spent.Overall, 47 Ronin isn't exactly a terrible movie. It's really beautiful in it's production design, but it could've been so much better if they gave more believability to the characters and story. It's sad to say that this receives a thumbs down from me. :(