The Ronin's Road to Redemption

Author: Jack Archer from Ottawa, Canada
1 May 2004

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Love this movie, a true homage to the samurai/western in the classic vein. Dying to know if this is based on an actual samurai story.This really is about the Way of the Gun and a strange path to redemption.

*Possible spoilers*

The two thugs are thoroughly unprincipled in their broad approach to life. They are willing to kidnap, extort, kill. But in two respects they live by a strict code. You see it both in their dealings with other men of arms, which are coolly respectful, formal and strangely honorable, and in their tactics and coordinated movements in battle, which are as precise as a dance.

*Definite spoilers*

The moment that gives away that this will be more than just an action movie is the kidnapping. Suddenly they are not just two petty criminals. They have been trained. Their opponents recognize it instantly. The two teams are matched. They all go through the initial confrontation/battle/escape with cool, ruthless professionalism. From that moment I was hooked.

*Big spoiler*

But there's more. The big moment of illumination in this movie comes at the end. These master-less samurai are touched by the most basic human appeal to decency: the helplessness of the woman and child. There is a point where they make the move. You can see them deciding that they are switching sides -- no longer serving themselves but something more worthy: protecting the innocent. At that moment they become true warriors again, which is probably what they first aspired to be before falling into crime.I love that all this is conveyed without so much direct talk. There's lots of conversation but it doesn't much touch on the interior thoughts of the Ronin. That's as it should be in a good western or samurai movie.