47 Ronin 2013

Sara Stewart, New York Post: [Rinsch] careens from one set piece to another with a blend of passable 3-D and dialogue so wooden, it seems dubbed. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: As impressive as these visual elements prove to be, the film struggles to grab and maintain audiences' interest, whether or not they know the underlying legend by heart. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: A singular viewing experience: a multi-colored downer fantasy which combines bursts of imagination with a bleak worldview, resulting in something that rarely feels mainstream. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: The pacing is cloddish and tone unaccountably dour. Read more

David Ehrlich, Film.com: Insufferably boring, culturally hegemonic, and profoundly ugly. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: There's nothing pretty or exciting about this movie (inexplicably, it's in 3-D), even when all anyone's doing is fighting. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: The eagerness of the major studios to cozy up to Asian markets yields awkward results in 47 Ronin, a lumpy 3D epic from Universal that fuses Japanese historical legend with generic CGI-heavy action fantasy. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: An overlong, underwhelming movie now hitting theaters that certainly wasn't worth the wait. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "47 Ronin" would have been more fun if it kept swinging its sword instead of falling on it. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Memo to Hollywood: Find another use for Keanu Reeves. Read more

Nicolas Rapold, New York Times: "47 Ronin" can't entirely paper over the void at its center, traceable partly to the shadowboxing of computer-aided filmmaking or studio tinkering. Read more

David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer: 47 Ronin is admirably devoted to its material, but it's almost tedious to watch. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: The basics of the story remain unchanged, but it's the wanna-be-blockbuster additions that rankle, be it the incoherent direction of first-time feature director Carl Rinsch or the copious CGI beasties who look like rejected Lord of the Rings villains. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: While the visuals are lovely to behold, this unremarkable version of the classic 18th century Japanese legend is stiff and uninvolving. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: Solemn as a funeral march, humorless as your junior high principal, as Japanese as a grocery-store California roll, Keanu Reeves's let's-mope-about-and-kill-ourselves samurai drama has exactly three things going for it. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: Believe it or not, for all its additions, it's too respectful. You want it to be funnier, crazier. Read more