Keanu Reeves plays an outcast in the fictional retelling of the forty-seven ronin, and while it looks a lot more promising than his other recent movies, could it be the one to save his career?

'47 Ronin' posterKeanu Reeves in '47 Ronin'

So, he's not exactly been rolling in the glory in recent years with 2012 seeing him star in major commercial and critical flop (an understatement) Generation Um and this year in the China based film Man of Tai Chi which was also his directorial debut and fared a lot better considering it was his first directing stint but still failed to grasp mainstream attention.

However, he returns to the Far East this year for 47 Ronin and, we have to say, it does look a lot better.

'The Matrix' star takes on the role of a half-English and half-Japanese outsider named Kai, exiled from his homeland after being beaten and enslaved. Now, he has almost super-hero like qualities with his ability to take on even the most formidable of adversaries - which is just as well because the land is now overrun with demons, witches and monsters.

With his fighting skills known throughout the land, a group of outcast samurais enlist him on their mission to avenge their leader who has been dishonourably killed by the new invaders, and Kai focuses all his attention on taking them down one by one.

Watch the 47 Ronin trailer:

The fantasy action flick serves as director Carl Rinsch's first foray into feature filmmaking, and he is joined on the project by screenwriters Chris Morgan ('Fast & Furious', 'Cellular', 'Wanted'), Hossein Amini ('Snow White and the Huntsman', 'The Wings of the Dove', 'Drive') and Walter Hamada.

The movie is based on a true story which much fantastical embellishment, dubbed by a Japanese scholar as the country's National Legend, whereby a group of samurais became 'ronin' (leaderless) when their master committed a dutiful suicide after assaulting a man of the court. The ronin subsequently set out to kill the court official, but later had to also commit suicide in ritual for their actions.

The movie is set to be released in the UK on boxing day (December 26th 2013).