47 Ronin

Hey, hey, hey, welcome back to another addition of Phil Goes to the Movies, and I am here to review some of the last films of the holiday season. Then we have that long break until the summer season, where i will review all of those block buster movies as well, but lets get to the movie at hand. Did "47 Ronin", impress me? Or did make me wanna find the nearest, sharpest object and plunge it into my eyes? Lets dive in:


47 Ronin- After watching the coming attractions for this film, I was blown away by the beautiful cinematography. The landscapes with its luscious and rich forests and grasslands, seemed to really stand out. The colors chosen for all the costuming, for the characters, really seemed to pop for my eyes to bask in it. At this point, you understand I'm pushing how great the movie was visually. Now a movie needs to be more than just eye candy, right? Well, this movie delivers more than just a pretty face... First off, the action sequences were really well done, and yes, there weren't many of them. However, when it was time for a fight, I was not disappointed. The fight scenes were fast pace and choreographed very well. The opening scene, where the samurai were battling this magical, beast of burden, and it was very appealing to the senses. The special effects were really top notch in this film... lately movies have become lazy with CGI making way too noticeable, but this movie pulled it off no problem.

The actors and actresses chosen for this movie did an amazing job, the characters really felt genuine and deep. The emotions of pain, loss, and anger were really delivered well in their whole hearted performances. Of course, they had some familiar faces, such as Hiroyuki Sanada, who played the captain of the samurai in "The Last Samurai". Weird, how he returned to play another bad ass captain of the samurai in this film.... what can we say, give this guy a blade and he will kick some ass. Then of course we have, which shocked me, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, you might remember him from his role as, Shang Tsung, in "Mortal Kombat", playing the Emperor.

Now for the 500 pound gorilla in the room, Keanu Reeves, playing the role of a white male ronin in an all Asian cast. Ok, first off, he really didn't do that bad, in fact, he was great for the character he portrayed. The story explained he was the child of an interracial relationship, and he was considered a half bred by the people around him. This character didn't steal the show making him the sole hero, which i really thought was a great way going about it, and he shared the position of hero with the other characters. Unlike, in "The Last Samurai", where the white guy was the last remaining hero, which caused a lot of controversy when it was in theaters, and I thought it was funny how people were offended by the ending. Even though, it was titled "The Last Samurai", starring Tom Cruise.... what the hell did you think was going to happen?

Now with all that said, I would have to say, my favorite character in the film had to be the shape shifting witch, played by Rinko Kikuchi. She was sexy as she was creepy, and she really stole each scene in my opinion. They gave her two color eyes, and she became a white tailed fox one scene, and in the other she merely a dress blowing in the wind. A great villain for the film.



Final Verdict- 7/10, I really enjoyed the film as a whole, but if i were hanging with some friends and they wanted to watch a movie. The choices were random others and this film, it would depend on the other choices. I'm not saying this movie is terrible by no means. I'm just saying it was better than the average action movie, and seeing it once was good enough for me! If it was on HBO, i wouldn't turn it off, but i wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again.

That's all for now, I have a few more films i want to review before closing the doors on the holiday movie season. Until then, this is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have too!