47 Ronin reminds me of TMNT 3 and IDW comics

[Shark_Blade]

Anyone else agree?

The samurai armor complete with grotesque masks. The white fox reminds me of Alopex; and when it turned into a witch, it reminds me of Kitsune very much.

And there's loads of "the ways of Bushido" elements in the movie. When they mentioned "seppuku", it reminds me of Mirage's first comic where Leo offered Shredder to take his own life in dignity.

For those who haven't checked this movie yet, go see it! It's wonderful!

[Tazi]

I've got an other thing it reminds me to... It's a movie about samurais, and they had to do it with a caucasian actor in the main character's role, like how they had to change Shredder to caucasian in the new movie...

[Shark_Blade]

Is it The Last Samurai?

[Tazi]

Yea that one too, it was ridicolous.

I've only seen the trailer and poster of 47 ronin, but I assume Keanu Reeves playes the main character, right?

[victory_angel]

The Tale of the 47 Ronin is actually a true story from the Tokugawa period and one of the most beloved stories of Japanese history and lore.


The actual account of the story of course doesn't have all the supernatural stuff of the movie.


The actual story can be found here http://asianhistory.about.com/od/japan/p/47ronin.htm

[TigerClaw]

The movie tanked at the Box Office, Its currently #8.

[Powder]

None of these things are anything near exclusive to the IDW universe, they're all elements of Japanese history...

& rather than anyone pay money to see this whitewashed travesty, go pick up Stan Sakai's comic version 47 Ronin.

[TheOracle]

This movie based on real events has its own holiday, its pretty cool.

However when I saw Keanu Reeves as one of the main characters, which isn't in the real life event and of course needed "The One" white guy to carry the film, it reminded me of how he was once used to play an asian guy: Buddha. Really? I guess he is... *does math* 1/6th Chinese so he...qualifies?

[Shark_Blade]

Keanu Reeves is the main character but the story doesn't revolve around him all the time, I'd say Oishi has his story's focus too as the 47 Ronin's leader. They both share 50/50 of the screentime I feel.

Box office.. eh I don't care much. Like Transformers 2 was a major hit but it's basically crap in terms of plot, characters, etc. I enjoy good movies as it is, doesn't matter what the sales stand at.

Being curious about the true history behind 47 Ronin, I bought an ebook from itunes for my ipad. Lo and behold, in the dedication page before the story starts, there's Stan Sakai's name imprinted among others. I was delightfully surprised by this, it also mentions of Usagi Yojimbo too. Pretty epic.

[Tazi]

Originally Posted by Shark_Blade

Box office.. eh I don't care much. Like Transformers 2 was a major hit but it's basically crap in terms of plot, characters, etc. I enjoy good movies as it is, doesn't matter what the sales stand at.

Yeah, this exactly. I can give you a full bag of titles of awesome movies which ones were never a commercial success, or just noone knows about them. That's the problem with the movie industry, it's no more art, it's really just industry, their goal is achieving more profit, nothing else. This is the reason why they remake even movies like Total Recall or Time Cop, because their name is known, so they're instant successes at box offices. Seriously, Time Cop? The original was an okay action flick, but does that really needs to be remade? I don't think so.

[DarthEmpress]

Keanu Reeves' ancestry is Asian (his grandmother is Chinese) so he's multiracial, not full Caucasian. Regardless, the movie looks okay, but not something I'd bother seeing...after The Last Samurai, I don't really enjoy seeing Hollywood's interpretations of Bushido...

But I am happy to see that Kou Shibasaki, whom I've always pictured as Karai, is in the cast <3

[Shark_Blade]

Tazi:I agree wholeheartedly with you too. Too many reboots nowadays in favor of quick cash but lacking creativity and originality.


Anyway, here's the Stan Sakai excerpt I was talking about. Just thought I'd share with you guys.

“This book is dedicated with great respect to the following people:

The Fukushima Fifty
George Takei
Stan Sakai

whose courage, honor, and compassion have shown me that certain values are universal and undying—stepping-stones on the path to wisdom. Those qualities will last forever, like the memory of the loyal 47 Ronin.”


....

“Because sometimes fiction is more “real” than fact*…
Thanks to Stan Sakai, for his masterful adaptation of Samurai legend to sequential art, in Usagi Yojimbo; Laura Joh Rowland for her vivid, fascinating “Sano Ichiro” historical mystery series set during the era of the 47 Ronin; Watsuki Nobuhiro for his classic Rurouni Kenshin manga (graphic novel series) and anime (animated series); Hayao Miyazaki for Mononoke-hime and many other timeless anime films. Also my thanks to the creators of numerous other manga and anime series, in particular Blade of the Immortal, by Hiroaki Samura, and Vagabond, by Takehiko Inoue, both set during the Tokugawa Era.”

Excerpt From: Joan D. Vinge. “47 Ronin.”

DarthEmpress: Kou is lovely. Wouldn't mind to see her as Karai as well.

[Ninjinister]

Keanu is one eighth Chinese and one eighth native Hawai'ian, but yet he's considered flat out "Caucasian"? True, he's got English, Irish, and Portuguese blood but I'd say he's a mutt before I'd say he's white.

[snake]

47 Ronin sucked. And, yeah, I did think of shredder when the silver-suited-evil-monster-thing showed up.

[Xav]

Ironically this looks more like a TMNT movie than the upcoming film does.

[Plasticplayhouse]

Originally Posted by victory_angel

The Tale of the 47 Ronin is actually a true story from the Tokugawa period and one of the most beloved stories of Japanese history and lore.


The actual account of the story of course doesn't have all the supernatural stuff of the movie.

i know and it aggravates me that instead of doing a high quality Hollywood-ized documentary, they went total apeshit over it and created something so far away from what it actually was.

if i look at it objectively, it was entertaining and i know Hollywood likes to go way overboard with their embellishments, so unfortunately i saw it coming a mile away. but it would still have been really refreshing to see the story taken a little more seriously.

Originally Posted by Powder

None of these things are anything near exclusive to the IDW universe, they're all elements of Japanese history...

& rather than anyone pay money to see this whitewashed travesty, go pick up Stan Sakai's comic version 47 Ronin.

Stan's comic was an amazing telling of the tale for what few pages he was given. i LOVED those books! he treated the story with the respect it deserves.

[Bauer536]

This looked terrible from the start. Aside from The Matrix films, Reeves is not a good actor.

Also, you have to understand. Sometimes, using these actors for other roles is supposed to help the international box office. Heck, I sometimes think that's why they had Russell Crowe as Javert in Les Miserables instead of an unknown role. Do I think it's ridiculous? Absolutely. When you have moments where Crowe is playing a role that requires singing, he doesn't sound that good. At least Hugh Jackman saved the film.

Also, I do happen to love The Last Samurai. Besides Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe owned it. He was great.

[madyankees]

47 Ronin was not bad to be honest. It aint epic though. However I still don't see the link to TMNT3 other than samurais. Having said that I do see it more of a link with the IDW Secret of the Foot Comic

[plastroncafe]

It is beyond disrespectful to cast a White Passing lead in a retelling of the 47 Ronin.

[Andrew NDB]

A movie about 47 samurais with their swords running around... and they can't actually cut anything or anyone because it's PG-13?

Yeah, I'll pass.