I thought The Last Samurai had killed the idea of white, Hollywood stars playing Japanese samurai for ever. I was wrong. Keanu Reeves will be the next gangly white dude to grab a sword in 47 Ronin.
Variety says Keanu will play one of a band of 47 samurai swordsmen avenging the death of their master in 18th century Japan. It’s supposed to be a big epic, and the Variety story uses Lord of the Rings and Gladiator as comparison points and calls it “stylized”, predicting it will mix in fantasy elements. So expect big, sweeping scenery and maybe the Japanese equivalent of fairies. I guess that would be time traveling Japanese school girls?
It’s actually not as bad as it seems. Keanu only looks like a gangly white dude. He’s actually half-Asian and you can bet they’ll wave that around over and over again during the film’s promotional tour as a way to justify him hanging out in 18th century Japan cutting people up with a samurai sword. And why not? Keanu may look nothing like a samurai but he knows kung fu. It’s been way too long since he’s been able to use it.
