Set in the not too distant future in Budapest, Hungary, the ancient clans of Japanese Samurai continue to operate in the shadows of society on a global scale as they did in Feudal Japan. Yurei (Dan Southworth), a descendant of the witch Mizuki who was an adversary of the 47 Ronin, sets his sights on acquiring the Witch Blade and Warrior Blade so he can form the Tengu Blade and wipe out the Samurai for good. As the Samurai lords meet to discuss the rising threat, it is learned only a descendant of the 47 Ronin may wiled the blade that will defeat ancient evil as dictated by the prophecy, but with the death of Lord Arai (Chris Peng) at the hands of Yurei the bloodline is seemingly ended, until Lord Shinshiro (Mark Dacascos) suggests the possibility there is another descendant in the American born Luna (Anna Akana) who has come to Budapest to claim the sword willed to her by Arai. Shinshiro's niece and onna-bugeisha, Onami (Teresa Ting), enlists the help of Ronin and friend Reo (Mike Moh) in tracking down Luna and after saving her from Yurei's henchman begin the task of introducing her to the world of Samurai and convince her to embrace her destiny.
Blade of the 47 Ronin is the latest release from Universal's direct-to-video label Universal 1440 which specializes in mining assets owned by Universal for production of direct to video genre films (Tales from the Hood 2&3, Dragonheart 3-5, etc.) with their work varying from decent timekilling fare to absolute trash like Welcome to Sudden Death and Woody Woodpecker the movie. The fact that 2013's 47 Ronin got a sequel (even a direct-to video sequel) is certainly surprising as 47 Ronin was one of the biggest bombs released to theaters that year after going through a troubled production which resulted in the director having a nervous breakdown. However, it's important to note that 47 Ronin was the last film Keanu Reeves was in (as a supporting player despite being plastered on the poster) before Reeve's career spectacularly re-ignited thanks to the success of John Wick and making Reeves as popular as he was in the 90s with The Matrix. With that new success it stands to reason his fans probably helped 47 Ronin eek into "break even" territory with rental and home media sales which gave Universal enough confidence for this follow-up. Directed by martial artist/stunt choreographer Ron Yuan, the movie ditches any pretense of "traditional" trappings the original film attempted and instead goes into full on genre bending insanity as the film plays like a mixture of John Wick, the Scott Adkins' Ninja films, and even some sprinkling of Star Wars mixed in to create some colorful and entertaining action nonsense.
Thanks to the 300 year time jump the film takes with its quasi-future establishment, Blade of the 47 Ronin largely ditches the dour and fatalistic tone of the first film that ended with all of the 47 Ronin (save for one) committing seppuku to regain their honor and goes instead for more of a comic book noir fantasy approach to the material but with some humor mixed in so it takes itself far less seriously than its predecessor did. The movie looks pretty good for a direct-to-video film with some nice looking costumes, colorful visuals, and on point choreography to the action scenes (not surprising given it's directed by a veteran stunt coordinator) but it does take a while to introduce the audience to this world as the first act of this movie has a LOT of exposition to get through that's pretty confusing and with how many names, macguffins, and rules are established it can feel overwhelming especially since our protagonist does show up to fill the position for a good 20 minutes or so.
Once the movie does move past the burdensome exposition the movie finds its footing thanks to a solid ensemble of performers with the likes of Anna Akana, Teresa Ting, Mike Moh, Chris Pang, and Mark Dacascos making for fun and engaging presences in the film who have some great chemistry with one another in both performances and fight sequences. The movie certainly delivers on the fight sequences and they are a sight to behold with these fluidly choreographed sword fights with waves of Ninja deliver with high energy and intensity. The only real shame with the fight scenes is the usage of CGI blood and gore because it does take you out of the movie a little bit, especially when you consider all the great spatter and gore artists working in the industry today that could've really added that extra "something" to these sequences, but with the nature of the industry being about cutting time spent on the project, it's understandable how much pressure there is to deliver these things "on schedule". Another criticism I had was in Dan Southworth's Yurei as our antagonist and I honestly wasn't really that impressed by him in the role, while Southworth does have experience in action such as Power Rangers: Time Force playing the Quantum Ranger, his fight sequences here feel very stiff and restrained and he's also not that intimidating in his performance either.
Despite the baffling nature of its existence at all, Blade of the 47 Ronin does its job in delivering colorful action nonsense in entertaining and efficient measure. Some of the opening exposition is a bit unwieldly, and the CGI blood and a not all that intimidating antagonist are a little disappointing, but for a movie that didn't really need to exist I'm honestly kind of glad it does.
