Rawhide Chew: Rinsch’s CGI Laden Retelling a Cardboard Snooze

The story of the 47 Ronin, a Japanese tale based in historical fact that has become a timeless standard, as well as an epic that has been molded into cinematic form by some of the country’s greatest auteurs, perhaps most notably by Kenji Mizoguchi with his 1941 version. Tastsuyasu Osone, Kunio Watanabe, and Hirsohi Inagaki all have versions floating around out there, while Kon Ichikawa’s rather tedious 1994 version was the most recent rendering. Until now. Director Carl Rinsch curiously makes his feature debut with a version of the tale that feels like it was yanked out of some bargain bin Brothers Grimm fairy tale, aiding the noble samurai with witches, dragons, a ‘half breed’ American movie star, and the English language.

While there are differing variations of the story, for the purposes at hand here it’s simplified to the...