After feuding for ages, a clan of witches overthrows the samurai and rule the world they control. Tired of living in the shadows, they only have one step left to complete their plan. “The Blade of the 47 Ronin” follows main character Luna (Anna Akana) as she discovers an underground world of samurai and witches, learning of a prophecy that says that she is the only hope of stopping the witch clan’s ploy.

This movie is the sequel to “47 Ronin”. Taking place 300 years after the events of the original movie, it puts a modern spin on the samurai clan dynamics. However, because it takes place so far after the original this movie is a stand alone, only taking ideas from the original and bringing them to the modern day. 

As expected from a samurai movie, much of this movie is fight scenes. I really enjoyed these as they were well choreographed and supported by a dynamic soundtrack that accentuated the already interesting fights. The music is upbeat and exciting, setting up a great mood that I wish carried throughout the rest of the movie.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. The plot was confusing and boring at the same time. Every plot point is heavily explained by the characters, obliterating the element of surprise. Even when there were plot twists, they were illogical and felt randomly thrown in. Basic story points were either over explained, or not at all, with no real in between.

The cinematography is similarly on opposite sides of the spectrum. During fight scenes, the cinematography is dynamic, exciting, and felt professional, but during normal conversations the filming is sloppy and amateur, usually accompanied by poor sound design.

This poor quality applies to the characters themselves as well. These characters change quite a bit over the course of the movie, going from reluctant allies to a close group with absolute trust, but nothing happens over the course of the movie to prompt these changes.

While the issues are rooted in writing issues, the acting does not help. The actors felt stale, lacking any connection between them to help overcome the problematic writing. Characters that were supposed to have known each other for their entire life had the on screen chemistry of perfect strangers.

For the most part, this movie serves as background noise at best. In the end, it left me with more questions than I started with and not in the thought-provoking sense.