No, seriously, they're doing it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47_Ronin_%282013_film%29
Am I the only person who wonders why anyone thought they needed Keanu in this movie? Or for that matter, why they're putting in lots of fantasy material 'just like LOTR'. What, did someone in Tinseltown decide that this story was somehow lacking in drama and excitement?
Hollywood, I wonder about you sometimes.
1) This can not possibly be any worse than The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise.
2) They are probably adding fantasy elements because it's already a highly-mythologized story that has long since passed into legend - much as 300's over-the-top action did a fine job of representing how ridiculously over-built the story of Thermopylae is.
3) I think Reeves played a big role in getting this project started... giving him a role is probably compensation.
4) They're using a lot of Japanese actors for the main roles - that's already kind of risky. Including Keanu is a good "insurance policy" for the studio's investment.
Essentially what princeimrahil said. You can dislike him all you want, but it's how a business works.
Okay. It's just that given the popularity that Kurosawa's films have long had with many a filmgoer (heck, even I like his jidai-geki stuff, and I'm the sort who considers the 'Godzilla' series to be classic cinema) I wondered why they were making that choice.
Still, I hope it works out for those involved.
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Anyone else see this yet? Just watched it last night. It...well...it was pretty not terrible. There were a lot of neat ideas and cool monsters, but it was hard to get attached to nearly any of the characters. Most of the characters are one dimensional, and so little time is spent with any of them I never really felt sad to see any of them meet their eventual inevitable end. The one exception was Rinku Kikuchi's shapeshifting kitsune witch, who was just so sexy and evil and awesome. She's sort of the secondary villain, but I think she actually has more lines and more scenes than anyone else in the movie. It makes me wonder if there was an early draft of the film told from her perspective.
Keanu Reeve's half-breed Kai, turns out to be sort of a secondary character too. There's a whole plot with him being in love with his lord's daughter, but the trailers make the mistake of making it sound like he's the great white hope of the ronin when he's initially brought along because his supernatural origin evens the odds against the kitsune's witchcraft. Kai does help out a lot, but the ronin carry just as much weight and their leader Oishi gets a lot more to do than Kai.
47 Ronin is a better movie than a lot of critics are saying, but it falls short of being truly great. If nothing else, it's a good flick for any gamers looking for inspiration for a Tian Xia adventure. The tengu look awesome and the dragon in the finished film looks much better than the one in the trailers. Also, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (aka Shang Tsung) plays the shogun, so that's pretty sweet.
Saw it tonight (largely because my power was out) and was somewhat impressed. I did go into it with very low expectations, with memories of The Warriors Way and Man with the Iron Fists running through my head, but 47 Ronin blows both of those movies away. Though admittedly that's not hard and only requires 47 Ronin to be watchable, which it is.
The movie does have one major flaw, and that flaw can be summed up in one word..."whoa". Yes, Keanu is in this film, and he shouldn't be.
Now, I'm not complaining much that they felt the need to throw a white guy into the movie. I don't like it, I hate it in fact, but I understand it's what the filmmakers needed to do to get the film made. And to be fair, the script handles the situation as well as could be expected, largely because it doesn't shy away from the reality of how a half-white/half-Japanese person would have been treated in 18th century Japan, i.e., like utter crap. But then this reasonably well written character is given to..."whoa".
This would have been a much stronger film if the token white character had been played by a younger, less well known actor.
What else? First off, the trailers lie...they lie a lot. Much of what's in the trailers you see more of in the trailers than you do on screen. The fights are good, largely lacking in the seizure-inducing quick cuts that have ruined so many American films in recent years. Hiroyuki Sanada gives a great performance as Oishi, and the rest of the actors playing the 47 do good work with the small amounts of screen time they get.
I could go on, but I don't want to get spoilery. Bottom line, if you want to see a movie and you've already seen The Desolation of Smaug, this is not the worst way to spend your money.
I recall hearing somewhere that the movie was actually reshot with Keanu's role bumped up. That the original version did not have him as a major character.
Well that actually makes a lot of sense, as it does often feel like he's been shoehorned into the film.
Bear in mind I'm not saying Keanu Reeves does a horrible job, it's obvious that this was supposed to be a supporting character and he tries to play it as such, he's not a terrible actor after all. But the filmmakers push the character in your face at every opportunity and you're constantly aware that, "hey, it's whoa!"
As I said, this would be a much stronger film if some less-blockbustery actor had played the part.
I really hope that the original version of the film is released when it comes out on DVD.
Apparently this movie is tanking badly--the studio is already discussing write off...
I enjoyed it. Velcro Zipper has the right of it, largely; a lot of cool Japanese fantasy-adventure elements while lacking in real, captivating plot or character development.
Still, fun. As a fan of waiting for cable, I'm not upset that I saw this one in the theater, of only for the effects.
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TOTALLY. AWESOME.
This movie was Oriental Adventures put to film.
Samurai? Yes. Fell beasts? Yes. Tengu? Yes. Cultural mish-mash that you'd find in a lot of games? Yes. (Pirates, flintlocks, Keanu)
While adding the token white guy would be weird in a lot of movies like this, for this movie it absolutely worked (and helps that it's Keanu - he does these weird roles).
Another case of a movie that did D&D better than the D&D movie, in this case being Oriental Adventures.
OMG THE WHITE GUY!
Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon, the son of Patricia Bond (née Taylor), an English-born costume designer/performer, and Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr.[5] His father, who is a Hawaiian-born American, has English, Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Irish, and Portuguese ancestry.[6][7][8][9][10] Reeves has said: "My grandmother is Chinese and Hawaiian, so I was around Chinese art, furniture and cuisine when I was growing up".[11]
Nevermind...
He's what... A quarter Asian? Sounds pretty Caucasian to me.
He's what... A quarter Asian? Sounds pretty Caucasian to me.
~LAUGHTER~
He's what... A quarter Asian? Sounds pretty Caucasian to me.~LAUGHTER~
I like Keanu, but the thing about this is......
F@!$ing Tom Cruise was THE Last Samurai,
and
well
could you imagine an alternate universe where they had Bruce Lee as Kwai Chang Caine instead of David Carradine on Kung Fu?
Ichikawa Ebizo XI is da shiznit. But, damn if we could let him carry the lead in a film, man.
see "White Male Lead;"..... it just invokes so many memories of this tired ass trope for me.
That being said, I'm still going to go see this flick.
see "White Male Lead;"..... it just invokes so many memories of this tired ass trope for me.
Smirk, makes me think of this commercial.
Keanu Reeves annoys me even though he's really quite inoffensive.
He's not unattractive, incompetent or even a significant distraction.
He's just ... an inert gas.
Like neon ... neo ... Keanu! I'll be ...