Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for their long-awaited epic period fantasy 47 Ronin. You can check it out here below.

Keanu Reeves plays a half-breed outcast selected to join a group of ronin (guess how many there are) in the battle against the evil Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano, Thor), the man responsible for killing their master. On their journey of vengeance, they engage in well-choreographed skirmishes and encounter all manner of CGI monstrosities. The predominantly Asian cast includes Japanese actors Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai) and Pacific Rim‘s Rinko Kikuchi as well as recognizable Japanese-American character player Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat). Chris Morgan (the Fast and the Furious movies), and Hossein Amini (Drive) collaborated on the screenplay.

47 Ronin was originally scheduled for release last November, but was delayed by the studio for over year so that costly and extensive reshoots could be done. There were also reports of friction between Universal execs and Carl Erik Rinsch, a commercial director making his feature directorial debut here. With a budget reportedly at $200 million, this 300/Clash of the Titans mish-mash turning Japanese will have to attract a ton of holiday moviegoers lest some individuals at Universal be forced to commit career seppuku.

That article title might be a bit misleading. There are monsters in this trailer, but I don’t think any of them would qualify as kaiju. But the alliteration was too irresistible to not use. So there.

47 Ronin opens in 3D and 2D on December 25, 2013. Is it too late to ask Santa for socks and a new calculator instead?

Trailer

[Source: Apple]