47 Ronin
Short description
47 Ronin is a fantasy action film set in 18th-century Japan and draws on the Japanese legend of the masterless samurai. Kai, a half-blood outcast raised by the benevolent Lord Asano, has long been rejected by the samurai around him and is secretly in love with Asano's daughter Mika. When the treacherous Lord Kira kills Asano and condemns his warriors to exile, the ronin leader Oishi and his companions seek vengeance to restore their master's honour. Reluctant to accept Kai at first, they come to depend on him as they set out against Kira's stronghold and the supernatural forces that serve it, including a witch.
The film was directed by Carl Rinsch from a screenplay by Chris Morgan and Hossein Amini, and stars Keanu Reeves as Kai, Hiroyuki Sanada as Oishi, Ko Shibasaki as Mika, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Kira, Min Tanaka as Lord Asano and Rinko Kikuchi as the Witch. It was a large international production with a budget of 175 million US dollars, and its worldwide gross of 152 million dollars fell short of that figure.
Audience response was moderate, with a rating of 6.2 out of 10 on IMDb from around 179,000 votes and the same score on TMDB from more than 4,000 votes. A film critics' rating of 4.2 out of 10 from 88 reviews places it noticeably below those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- This is Karl Rinsch's directorial debut.
- Alongside Keanu Reeves, roles were given to five Japanese actors (Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi, Ko Shibasaki, and Jin Akanishi) to make the story more authentic, rather than choosing actors recognizable in the US.
- According to Keanu Reeves, specifically for the sake of the supporting actors, filming initially took place in Japanese and then in English.
- Specifically for the film, 300 bamboo shoots, each 15 meters high, and one-meter-tall bonsai trees over a hundred years old were brought to the London set from Italy.
- Filming began on March 14, 2011, and took place in Budapest, London, Japan, and on the Isle of Skye.
- The role of the one responsible for Prince Asano's death is played by actor Tadanobu Asano.
- The arrows for the film were made by the renowned European master Michael Reape. A small number of arrows were crafted in "museum quality" for close-up shots.
- According to costume designer Penny Rose, everyone had costumes tailored to the background: "Based on the culture, the form of clothing had to be one thing – a kimono, but we made a sort of 'fashionable' twist on it and added different colors."
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