Watched the 47 Ronin movie in SM Bacoor earlier. I've already seen the half of the black & white, uncorrupted story, 1941 film of the 47 Ronin [without the white supremacy in it] and first read the story/summary in this book (written at the end before index): IAI: The Art Of Drawing The Sword by Darrell Max Craig and was about to buy the whole story book in FullyBooked but was not so impressed with how it was narrated in that edition.
Although in history there really were caucasian samurais and other instances where a peasant bought himself to elevate his status and become a samurai, the story really fucks up everytime there's a Hollywood white actor playing the lead role of the movie. Like in The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe and Hiroyuki Sanada in that movie. It was portrayed that the Imperial Japanese Army couldn't shoot their targets and they needed a white officer- Capt. Nathan Algren (Cruise) to teach them how to aim their rifles correctly because they are not ready for battle against Katsumoto's forces.
That's bullshit because some samurais are using musketeers/riflemen since before the Sengoku period (muskets are introduced in Japan by the Portuguese during the 15th century) and also their descendants 300 years later used rifles during the Boshin war (1868-1869). So how come it was portrayed in The Last Samurai that the Japanese military in the Meiji era couldn't aim their targets?
In this movie, it was shown that the ronins cannot kill a mythological beast (Qilin), handle some samurai guards on their way to their journey and needed a half-white savior who took care of those tasks for them and help them get their swords. Clear examples of white supremacies in both movies.
These days, the only samurai movies I watched were classic jidaigeki movies on my PC and the last samurai movies I watched in cinemas were Rurouni Kenshin live-action (Tokugawa-Meiji era) and Castle Under Fiery Skies (Sengoku period).
I like how it showed the true power, magnificence and real efficiency of a katana/samurai sword. I think that's the part that's unique in this movie and I haven't seen in other samurai movies/jidaigeki-chanbara films.
The part of the movie I like the most is the Tengu scene (demon god in Japanese mythology that has long nose or beak and wings of an eagle).
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According to legends (read it in this book- The Demons Sermon on the Martial Arts): The Tengus are the ones who taught humans about kenjutsu or Japanese fencing. It would be great if the movie much showed what Kai learned from the Tengu when he was just a kid.
I think the reason they made this a fantasy film and changing some important facts of the real story like exchanging the ages of Lord Asano (Min Tanaka) and Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano) is so that the movie will look unique and fresh.
In the trailer, I thought the 1 thrown in the dungeon was Kai (Keanu Reeves) but it turns out, it was Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada) (I wonder how he survived there? Looks like they didn't feed him for about a year.).
The scene where Mizuki (Rinko Kikuchi) is threatening Mika (Kou Shibasaki) really turned me on. I just read a hot lesbian love scene in Lady Snowblood manga yesterday.:
Although it shouldn't be a fantasy movie, the movie clearly displays the true Japanese/samurai spirit of courage, honor and loyalty to one's lord.
I think I'm gonna go the samurai way of fasting since I only have PHP1,000+ left in my bank account because of my spending in this movie. I missed the days (I think those were in 2009) when the same price on the ticket will also give you a free popcorn.
