Many thanks to J for sending in the links and to the reviewers for actually doing their jobs in a professional manner – much appreciated and I sincerely mean that!
Tom White posted his 47 Ronin review for The Movie Bit. He gave it 3/5 stars. Here are some money quotes:
Visually, 47 Ronin is stunning, with mostly spot on special effects (the odd, bird faced Tengu monks the only misstep) adding to the enjoyment of this fantasy adventure. The action scenes, which admittedly are few and far between, are well shot by director Carl Rinsch, every movement captured cleanly and crisply.
Acting wise, a wealth of international talent is on display here, and they do their job admirably, wasted as they are on one dimensional characters.
A somewhat enjoyable, ultra stylised fantasy adventure, 47 Ronin delivers in the visual department, but a weak narrative and slightly wasted cast severely hurts it.
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Dr. Lenera has posted his review for Horror Cult Films. He gave the film 6/10. While the reviewer has no fondness for Keanu Reeves, he did make several interesting points. Here are a few quotes:
…Carl Rinsch gives us far too many close-ups so that we don’t always get much of a sense of scale, nor can we appreciate the nifty samurai moves enough.
Still, the film often looks good in other respects, offering some nice views of the Japanese landscapes and a strong use of colour throughout, really making the most out of the brightness of some of the costumes and things like a sunset making the inside of a house all yellow and orange. Cinematographer John Mathieson does a great job here, and it’s a great shame that Ilan Eshkeri’s bland score only occasionally rises to the occasion.
It deserves kudos for not chickening out at the end, though the viewer will still probably be left finding certain customs inexplicable, the film not really doing a good job of trying to make us understand them.
47 Ronin is problematic and a fatally flawed movie, but at times it’s so enjoyable that I wished I could actually rate it higher. It’s decent fun to take the family to and you’ll find that the two hours will fly by.
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You might want to read Ignatiy Vishnevetsky’s review of 47 Ronin for A.V.Club. He had an interesting take on the film.