A Huge Miscalculation
“47 Ronin” might be the last nail
in the coffin in the career of Keanu Reeves. In some ways the film’s
box office failure is not fair because the movie itself, although not
great, certainly has its serviceable moments (certainly worse films
have been box office smashes). The filmmakers were banking on the
idea that Asian audiences would flock to this picture—which didn’t
happen. Part of the problem is that apparently the guys with
expensive suits and fancy degrees couldn’t anticipate that foreign
audiences wouldn’t respond to seeing Keanu Reeves in a Hollywood
version of a sacred cultural story.
From the beginning, “47 Ronin”
doesn’t play things exactly straight. There is a scene early on
where Reeves kills this mythical dragon beast thing (I don’t know
what it is or what it’s supposed to be). There are also some cool
battles with wizards and some extremely fast moving warrior-monk
types. It is during these scenes that I believe my ignorance (or
perhaps I should say “cursory awareness”) of the true “47
Ronin” tale saved me from becoming furious at the film. Obviously
this is a story with some inherent power since it has been handed
down for centuries...why some idiot thought that fundamental core
should be de-emphasized in favor of CGI pseudo-mythical beasts
is...well, it’s why everybody is always terrorized when Hollywood
announces they’re going to do a screen treatment of some important
tale.
“47 Ronin” is a tale about honor,
but I’m going to be honest and say it’s a type of honor I don’t
understand [Spoilers coming]. It’s the story of a group of rogue
Samurai who want to avenge their master’s death only for the
privilege of—get this—committing honorable suicide at the end of
the film. That’s their prize. I contend that most Westerners do
not understand this, and that many of the ones that say they do
understand aren’t being entirely truthful. I, for example, can
give lip service to the Samurai code, but it’s just words to me.
My heart does not soar at the end of the film as the brave 47 Ronin
prepare to take their own lives in a beautiful ceremony of death. My
fundamental thinking at the very core of my being lines up more with
Robert De Niro’s character in “Ronin,” who, when he’s told
about the sacrifice of the 47 Ronin, says simply, “they chose
wrong.”
Please feel free to try to explain this
cultural disconnect to me—although I hesitate to believe a few
paragraphs can bridge the substantial gap. Also, despite the fact
that Westerners apparently answered a questionnaire in which they
checked “yes” next to “do you want to see an Americanized ‘47
Ronin’ film?” the true response—judging from the box office
receipts of the movie—was that they did not.
If the filmmakers of “47 Ronin”
wanted to make an interesting Samurai film that appeals to both the
East and the West starring a mixed-race protagonist, they should have
done a screen adaptation of “Gonji” by T.C. Rypel. Then they
would have been free to add all the CGI flourishes that they wanted
to without risking offending an entire culture (in the same line of
thought, Peter Jackson should be making Drizzt Do’Urden films
instead inserting elves where they don’t belong in “The Hobbit”).
I don’t hate this film, I found it
entertaining. My biggest fear is that the incompetent idiots
responsible for the grand miscalculations that doomed “47 Ronin”
from the start will come to the incorrect conclusion that Samurai
movies are not viable. I like Samurai movies, I want to see more
Samurai movies. Heck, I’ll even go see some more films with Keanu
Reeves. But if you want to make a goofy adventure flick, don’t try
to say you’re doing a treatment of a culturally significant story.
There are plenty of good books out there for adaptation that don’t
come prepackaged with impossible-to-achieve cultural expectations.
...and seriously...make a “Gonji” flick!
Reviewer Bio:
Walter Rhein is the author of "The Reader of Acheron," "Beyond Birkie Fever," and "The Bone Sword." He is also the editor of "Nine Heroes."
