Well, this was hardly a surprise. Given that we saw the first character posters for Universal’s long-delayed samurai film **47 Ronin yesterday, the arrival of the trailer was all but foretold. So it was written, so it has come to pass via Apple.
Based – with plenty of mystical embellishment – on a true Japanese story,** 47 Ronin** finds a group of warriors in disarray.
After a treacherous warlord kills their master and banishes their kind, 47 leaderless samurai vow to seek vengeance and restore honour to their people. Driven from their homes and dispersed across the land, this band of Ronin must seek the help of Kai (Reeves), a half-breed they once rejected, as they fight their way across a savage world of mythic beasts, shape-shifting witchcraft and wondrous terrors.
As this exiled, enslaved outcast becomes their most deadly weapon, he will transform into the hero who inspires the band of outnumbered rebels to seize eternity.
This one has suffered through real production challenges, including talk of re-edited cuts and clashes between first-time director Carl Rinsch and executives. The result appears to be a mash-up of Crouching Tiger with 300, which certainly seems intriguing, even if the proof will be in the execution. A few lines seem ripped straight from the Basic Book Of Action Chat, but there’s enough here to pique our interest. And that includes Rinko Kikuchi apparently turning into the sort of dragon creature she’d ironically be perfect to fight at the controls of a Pacific Rim Jaeger…
47 Ronin is out on December 26.