47 Ronin (1994)

Sorry, this movie sucks

best movie i've ever seen.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Kon Ichikawa's adaptation of the extremely popular "Chushingura" is good, but probably not a great intro for western audiences. It very much assumes that the viewer is familiar with the story and starts it in flight with very little explanation. That reservation aside, it's a great adaptation that has many stylistic call backs to chanbara cinema of the 60's without feeling old fashioned.

Unlike other versions of this story that I have seen (and I've seen at least 3 or 4 others), this one begins well AFTER much of the plot has passed and so much explanatory exposition occurs in the first 20 minutes of the film. Then, when the film flashes back 20 months, it STILL goes back to AFTER the important events have occurred (when an official tried to kill one of the Shogun's trusted men). So is the 1994 version of "The 47 Ronin"--a completely non-sequential version of the story is told.The 47 Ronin is a classic Japanese story, and I assume that practically every adult in the country is very familiar with the story. So, for a Japanese audience, this version of the story would probably work great. However, for those NOT familiar with the story, it's very confusing and told in a very roundabout manner and is quite confusing. Because there must be about a dozen other versions out there, I say try them first. Though, try also to avoid the recent Keanu Reeves version simply because it's pretty stupid.

47 Ronin (1994) is, in my opinion, the best non-Kurosawa Japanese movie to date. It is shot beautifully and it is obvious that every scene has been thoughtfully choreographed. The acting, I thought, was good, and so was the script. The plot line was, although at times difficult to follow, brilliantly executed and thought through.Ken Takakura's bold performance as Kuranosuke Ōishi was the strongest in the movie, and Kon Ichikaw certainly brought out the in him. The wardrobe and set designs were also fantastic, obviously a lot of time and effort was put into them to make sure their authenticity was correct.Overall, I believe the 47 Ronin to be a very good movie and definitely worth watching.

Beautifully shot, wonderful costumes, exceptional poetic imagery and majestic array of classically trained posturing women. However this film is amazingly obtuse, generally slow, incredibly dull minimalist payoff, improbable impregnation, and a couple of instances of Evil Dead style blood spray that seem very out of place. The political intrigue is neat, but that does not justify the pace or the ending, or the fact that many of the seemingly incidental plot spurs remain unresolved. I can appreciate that this is an attempt to recapture the classic style and posturing of the old Japanese & Chinese stage play forms and historical yarns like The Tale of Genji. Unfortunately, while beautiful, the film lacks the depth and loaded nuances of the classic form, and a superficial take on classical theater is far too shallow to really herald as a masterpiece. A good film to watch for visual form, but not a good example of story depth.