The story of the group of Ronin (a leaderless samurai) who avenged the death of their master took place in the early 18th century and became a popular tale in Japanese culture, retold often. Carl Rinsch's version features the addition of scary monsters, sects of immortal alien-warriors, sorcery and of course, half-breed warrior Kai (Reeves).
Lord Kira (Tadanobu) is a shogun who dreams of ruling all of Edo-period Japan. He has help in the form of a witch (Kikushi) who uses sorcery one night to trick Lord Asano (Tanaka) into attacking a guest. The next day, disgraced Asano, in order to preserve his family's honour, commits seppuku even as Asano's loyal warrior Oishi (Sanada) delivers the final cut.
Kai, who was loyal to Asano, is sold to slavery. Oishi is thrown in a dungeon and the remaining Samurai are exiled by Kira, who also plans to marry Asano's daughter, Mika (Shibasaki) after she finishes a year of mourning. But Mika and Kai love each other and dream about being together.
After his release many years later, Oishi first rescues Kai - now a hardened prizefighter - in a sequence not unlike something you'd see in Pirates of the Caribbean, regroups his warriors and they set about the task.
The unwavering devotion to honour - in this case, the Bushido code - is the conceptual thread that ties this whole film together. The movie mixes many elements, but the overall tapestry looks good. An American-accented Kai amongst hardcore Japanese warriors is not jarring.
Magical lands and sorcery add to the movie's mythic structure. While Mika is suitably simpering, the witch is delightfully evil and is a pleasure to watch. As for Reeves, his lines are minimal, but his swordplay does all the talking.
Note: You may not like this film if you don't like action movies.
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