What do you
want from me? Nobody’s perfect.
I’ve always
been a junkie for samurai fantasy adventures circa early 1980s (Ninja
Wars Legend of the Eight Samurai) so to see Universal backing one,
with a first-time director at the helm no less, and with all the production
design and modern FX spectacle a hefty $175 million can buy is the kind of
Hollywood foolhardiness I can get behind. Add to the absurdity Keanu Reeves.
Any other white actor in the lead would have likely proven disdainful to the
Japanese born source material, but Keanu is the exception: he is beyond any
known race. I’m not just referring to his multi-ethnic ancestry, but his
artfully dopey, live-action anime, surfer-mystic, rock star incarnate screen
persona that could only exist in movies. It’s Keanu’s particular ingenuousness
that makes casting like this work, that he’s clearly playing the part so
doggedly and sincere.
The worst
thing this movie can do is short-change its own goofy potential. All the
elements in place, what it needs in order to succeed is to just be, like,
"Fuck it!" and go all-out; to fully embrace it’s 'magic and
monsters' conceit with reckless abandon; to be as wild, ridiculous and
over-the-top as possible. Assuming it lives up to the trailer, what's not to
like? I mean, shit, there’s gonna be pirates and ogres and witches and
fireballs ...and Neo with a glowing katana. I’m in. Hell, I might even see it
opening day, as a Christmas present to myself.
Merry
Christmas, Cannon.
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