Movie Review: Blade of the 47 Ronin

credit: Blade of the 47 Ronin

When describing movies such as Blade of the 47 Ronin, it’s usually wise to pay some respect to the ideas that stand as the base for such a story considering that the samurai did exist, and Japanese culture is more than a little interesting. If one can take this movie at face value and simply enjoy the action, then it becomes less of an issue, but delving any deeper into the plot is bound to confuse some folks and perhaps even anger others, given that this story feels like it aims to deviate from the main idea that the samurai culture developed so long ago.

The truth is that the 47 Ronin tale does come from fact according to historical texts, but when it comes to the movies, the fantasy and mystery behind the historical legend have taken over in a big way. Mysticism, magic, and many other elements have been used to keep the story of the 47 ronin interesting, even at the expense of credibility. But thanks to creative license, it would appear that any and all criticisms are bound to fall flat when it comes to what is deemed acceptable in the movies. 

credit: Blade of the 47 Ronin

The movie doesn’t trip over its own feet, thankfully, as the plot is easy to follow. 

There are hidden elements to this movie that make it very easy to think that it’s leaving things out at some point, but it’s not tough at all to figure out that the movie is designed to keep the audience’s focus on the main characters and the fact that they’re being set upon by ninjas at every possible juncture.

The action feels as though it’s there to make certain that people don’t get bored at times since it’s very reminiscent of something produced in the 80s or 90s. That is to say that it follows a very set formula that can be witnessed in many movies, as it moves from the introduction to the climax and then to the conclusion in very measured steps that makes one think that this movie could have been a little more interesting had it deviated from the initial story now and then just to give the audience a slightly different perspective. 

It’s easy to laugh at the idea that swords can be openly carried in public. 

It’s a movie, and more to the point, it’s a movie about samurai and witches, so it’s very easy to forgive the idea that anyone is out in public in Japan with a sword that can be easily seen. In fact, the main protagonist is the only individual that doesn’t appear ready to let her blade be seen unless she’s attempting to show it to the buyer that she has lined up.

The fact is that open carrying a sword pretty much anywhere could cause a spot of trouble, but in Japan, there are special circumstances and allowances that might make such a thing possible, but it’s tough to think that it wouldn’t be noticed by a lot of people in the immediate vicinity since it’s not likely that one is going to be carrying a sword in public so openly. For the sake of the movie, it’s not a big deal, but the fact is that it does kind of detract from the story just a bit unless the point is to show that in this world, people expect modern-day samurai to carry weapons openly without repercussions. 

credit: Blade of the 47 Ronin

There are a lot of convenient plot points that demand an explanation. 

Some aspects of the movie felt a little too neat, meaning that they could have used a deeper explanation than they received. That might not have been the intent of this movie, but the betrayal of the samurai by one of their own, the origin of the relationship between the witches and the samurai, and even the origins of a few of the characters might have been nice to hear since otherwise, it feels as though each character belonged to another story and had been rudely jammed into this movie.

This isn’t unheard of, obviously, and it’s been done more than once, but at the same time, it’s a convenient way to push a story forward without having to spend too much time on one character or another. The downside of this is that there are a few characters in this story that could have used the extra effort so that they could be fleshed out in a much more effective manner. 

It’s not a bad action movie, but that’s as far as it goes. 

If one takes this as an action movie, then it works just fine,  as there is plenty to see and a story that’s held together just enough to be convincing. Trying to ascertain any deeper meaning than this, however, would easily result in a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies that would have historians and action fans rolling their eyes without ceasing.