If that Kurosawa movie of 1980 (plot summary) were remade today:
--The impersonator, instead of dying in a hail of bullets, would jump on the back of Lord Shrigen's previously untamable horse and lead the clan to victory.
--His three years as a "shadow warrior" would cause him to mature from a common thief into a Lord and learn a valuable lesson about his better nature.
--An ambiguity would exist whether the impersonator actually learned these lessons or whether he was channeling the ghost of the dead Lord.