Tuesday Releases: 47 Ronin & Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

April 1, 2014 / Leave a Comment

APRIL 1ST, 2014

ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES // Not quite capturing the magic that was the original “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”, the sequel, “The Legend Continues” takes the next logical step in the progression of news reporting and steps into the world of the 24 hour news. Will Ferrell does little to improve his stint as Ron Burgundy, but continues in enough fashion and hilarious ignorance to keep the audience wanting more. After his wife Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) is promoted over him in New York City, Ron returns to San Diego… for a very brief stint. Until he is approached about coming aboard an upstart 24 hour news outlet back in New York City, to which he reassembles the team from the first film, including Champ (David Keochner), Brian (Paul Rudd), and Brick (Steve Carrell). The sad part of the film is that it tries to recreate so much of the magic that came naturally in the first film, instead of producing new and hilarious content, it retreads the steps and forces a heavier hand on elements like Brick’s retardation and Ron’s misunderstanding of most social cues, his sexism, and his blatant ignorance towards race. Even Meagan Good’s new character as Ron’s boss, Linda, is a mess of ideas not quite fleshed out.

Where the film reaches its funniest moments are where Ferrell is left to run wild, like in a small but hilarious scene between himself and Veronica’s new boyfriend, played by Greg Kinnear, to whom Ron believes to have psychic powers and even gets his son to believe it as well. Also, the entire film proves to be a rather spot on satire of the format of news that the public is now used to, including special guests, fluff pieces, and live feeds on high speed chases, which are all pushed to the extreme in a very humorous way. However, the story structure of the film eventually falls off into nonsense, once again trying to recreate the cameo happy nature of the original and pushes the envelope for most generic and rudimentary ending in a comedy this year. Not quite landing as a letdown but also not inspirational of a continuation of the series, the original “Anchorman” will remain a cult classic while “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” will remain yet another sequel that probably should have seen a few more drafts.

47 RONIN // Too often does Hollywood take the path of overindulgence, expanding so much on one simple idea to the point where you hardly recognize the original story. “47 Ronin” is this epitome of a simple story masqueraded with so much flare and convoluted with so much mythology that the studio fails to see the golden story that they original had. Based on Japanese lore about a real-life group of forty-seven masterless samurai seeking revenge for their master, at first glance, I was truly hoping for this centuries greatest samurai tale. Even with Keanu Reeves as frontman, I was willing to see this as a bigger budget step up from Tom Cruise’s “The Last Samuari”, filled with sword fights and revenge, capitalizing on an American made version of films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. However, the “47 Ronin” that you hope for is not the “47 Ronin” that you get.

The more creatures and shapeshifters that are added to the film, the lower this film falls in quality, often taking the easy ways out in lieu of CGI rather than practical effects. None of the fight sequences hold any sort of memorable qualities and the brash attempt at a love story is laughable at best. Keanu Reeves holds his own next to the extremely capable sword fighters like actor Hiroyuki Sanada as Oishi, the leader of the Ronin, but neither man ever really comes into their own enough to cause for applause. Having just recently viewed “Babel”, my respect for the Academy Award nominated actress Rinko Kikuchi is at an all-time high (also starring in “Pacific Rim”) and despite the character she is given, Mizuki the witch, Rinko does a superb job at fitting the villainous role, in look and demeanor. Thrilling on the most basic of levels, I do have to give the film-makers at least some credit for following through with the poignant ending that could have easily been ruined with a change of heart. Not to say this iteration of the Japanese tale is not entertaining, but for what it could have been, this film misses its mark.