Due to a studio decision to reshoot a lot of the film, it's been heavily criticized. And the way it's being marketed is killing it at the box office. But I'm here to set the record straight. It hasn't completely earned the 12% on rotten tomatoes. Because even with its unfocused plot and a Japanese cast speaking English, its action sequences can be exciting. It does, however, take too long to get off the ground.
Walking out of the theater, my friends and I agreed that it was paced very well, the time goes by pretty fast. However, after the first 20 minutes, it is slow, boring, and unimportant. Everyone yawned at least once in the theater. At the halfway point, it begins to pick up again, but you don't really care anymore because there was a 40 minute period that lost your interest completely.
Oishi was originally supposed to be the main focus of the film. And I think Kai could have been a big part of it too, had the film been an hour longer and written better. Reeves was supposed to have a minor role, but is now splitting the protagonist in two with Asano. Reeves gives such a wooden performance, combined with his appearance, you could compare to Liam Neeson's Qui-Gon Jinn. The rest of the cast did what they could, but it may have just been better letting the Japanese speak their own language, forcing the audience to read subtitles.
Mizuki (Rinko Kikuchi), a witch that serves Lord Kira had a lot of screen time with no real development. A short (anti-)climactic battle with Reeves felt tension-less. She was wrapped in generated images the entire time. Her scenes with Mika (Kou Shibasaki) seemed more sensual than threatening.
Mika and Kai have this forbidden relationship. While Kikuchi is probably the best actress in this, the love story between her character and Reeves' can't be given any craps. Why not? Because you really just forget about it. The film is split into two plot lines, Kai's and Oishi's, each having their own story arcs. The love story, being part of Kai's, has such little attention the over-dramatic ending leaves the audience indifferent towards the two of them.
Outsiders, or people of a different race, were not allowed in feudal Japan. However, because Kai is mixed race (I would assume the other half is white), he is ostracized as a demon. You even see the people he came from at some point in this movie. The feudal Japanese people labeled white people as demons. The more you think about the things depicted, the more ridiculous everything seems.
The film doesn't just have a subtle discrimination toward Caucasians, but it feels generally offensive of Japanese culture in general. It wasn't mocking it (intentionally). But it used plenty of ideas from the culture that forced the audience to laugh when it wasn't intended. It also claims the Ronin were on a journey that would defeat most men, but it was more like "Let's get swords!" and then "Let's kill them!" The simplicity of the poorly re-written plot is astounding.
There is an extensive use of CGI that just explains why this movie went so far over budget besides reshoots. There were so many occurrences that took me out of the movie that made me think "That is completely unnecessary." The film is mostly shown in 3D, but I saw it in 2D, because no one wants to pay for it unless it's critically acclaimed necessary (i.e. Gravity). Because a good third of the movie is so boring, you may need the 3D just to keep your attention.
To clear something up, the marketing for this movie has a poster dedicated to this one character that has roughly 10 seconds of screentime. No joke. This guy has one line. He doesn't even have a name, he's credited as Savage (Rick Genest). This must have been the highest paid one line from an unknown actor in history.
I will say that it has some impressive action sequences, though cut short. The ending feels predictable, but it actually is fairly original. Because when it gets to the point where you're thinking "I know what's going to happen" it twists into something completely different. It is still less satisfying than what you expected of it.
Overall, you may not remember this movie two days after you watch it. I'm already starting to fade. Dialogue is an issue with practically the entire cast. Visual effects are dazzling, but quickly grow tiresome. A split plot may as well split scores in half. This movie would be bearable had a third of it been more memorable, but with all of its problems, you will probably leave disappointed in 47 Ronin.
Rating: C-
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