आखिरी योद्धा

The Last Samurai is a strictly by-the-numbers samurai epic set in 1876-1877 Japan. All the necessary ingredients are here - beautiful Japanese landscapes and costumes, larger than life battlefield sequences, and eastern philosophy.Although the pageantry is not as beautiful as such samurai epics as "Heaven and Earth", it is more than adequate.

Do not, however go into this film expecting "Kill Bill", grindhouse type swordplay nor the poignancy of a Kurosawa piece. Instead, "The Last Samurai" occupies the middle ground; a human story of one Westerner learning to embrace another culture kind of a mixture of "Dances With Wolves" and "Shogun", films from which it derives almost directly. And this is the films greatest flaw. It is utterly predictable. No spoilers here, we all know what happens to the samurai. If not, the title ought to give you a clue. Every scene is one that you were expecting to see. And the ending is the ending you expect.

But Zwick and co. still manage to weave an engaging story with panache, and a climactic (despite it's predictability) ending, and that is why "The Last Samurai" is such a great film. As the Zen saying goes, "Success is a journey, not a destination". It is equally applicable to the samurai in the film, and the film itself. A success. 8/10.

Powerful, well-crafted epic set in 19th century Japan about a disillusioned American soldier who's hired to train a group of fledgling soldiers and lead them into battle against a rebellious samurai. Having been defeated and held captive by the enemy, he gradually begins to understand and develop a great respect for the man who should be his adversary. Long, but faultlessly performed and richly detailed with compelling battle scenes and vivid, breathtaking scenery. Cruise—sporting authentic Japanese tongue—is outstanding, but Watanabe steals the film in a moving and forceful performance as the fierce but honorable samurai warrior. Only letdown is the finale, which seems a bit too conventional, but it's still a remarkable tale of life, honor, and courage. ***½

The Last Samurai is a brilliantly crafted aesthetic pleasure, studded with supernal performances from Ken Watanabe and Tom Cruise. In fact, Tom Cruise unarguably gives his best ever performance, surpassing his portrayal of Jerry Maguire in the eponymous flick. His plaintive portrayal of Nathan Algren, not only evokes pathos but also seeks sympathy of the contemporary viewer, who can vicariously relate to Algren's disconcertion, owing to his inner conflicts of patriotism vis-à-vis humanity.

However, it is Ken Watanabe, who steals the show with his mesmerizing and poignant portrayal of Katsumoto, the leader of the last clan of Samurai. His screen presence and delivery is truly amazing and even outshines that of Tom Cruise, which is a compliment in itself. The scenes between Watanabe and Cruise are pure gold, depicting fluctuating feelings of hostility, compassion and camaraderie.

Watanabe's intense and powerful performance in which he displays a wide range of emotions, is definitely worthy of the coveted statuette, but the academy never fails to disappoint. Watanabe's brilliant portrayal, not only mesmerizes the viewers, but also convinces the critics of his acting abilities. The tacit adoration between Algren and Taka (subtly played by Koyuki), enormously adds to the beauty of the movie. All this coupled with some brilliant cinematography and a mesmerizing score, makes it a treat to watch and a truly surreal experience.

http://www.apotpourriofvestiges.com/

"The Last Samurai" 2003 and "The Last of the Dogmen" (1995 d: Tab Murphy, with Tom Berenger and Barbara Hershey in the lead) are both films with the theme of the 'last' of warrior spirits (one is Samurai, one is Cheyenne). The production of The Last Samurai is well worth seeing - the glory of a large-scale Hollywood production it is. From the research of the historical Japanese Meiji period, the mannerisms, the way different classes of people dress, the settings, the battle weapons and armory, how the Samurai train and fight, to the study and appreciation of the Art of War - where men of honor and integrity in service to the Emperor is the thing to die for. The film title in three Kanji characters means The Way of the Warrior (Samurai). The one character shown on screen at the very beginning (romanization: Sze) meant in the service of the King. Hence the definition of Watanabe's Samurai lifelong one true goal - to serve his Emperor, one and only, and to die in the service of the Emperor would be an honor.

The film, directed by Ed Zwick, is truly a combined labor of love of everyone involved. From the producer-lead actor Tom Cruise and Zwick's film-making partner Marshall Herskovitz, cinematography by John Toll and film score by Hans Zimmer, to the costuming details, diverse casting, location scouting all the way to New Zealand and training of the supporting cast - even the official Web site with extensive production notes - all provide enhanced appreciation of this remarkable film. The storyline and drama of "The Last Samurai" evoke various level of emotions, pulling the heartstrings of the audience with high emotional energy - suspense, sadness, smiles, empathy, joy.

"Kagemusha" by Akira Kurosawa, of course, is the ultimate grandeur of a historic Samurai epic. "The Last Samurai" is comparable in drama and treatment if not with equal passionate efforts all round. Both are available on DVD with special features of audio commentary and the making of 'featurette' and more.

In a bid to try to improve trade links between Japan and the US Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is hired to train an army to overthrow a rebellious group of samurai led by their leader Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe). However, the army that Algren had been training encounter the Samurai before their training has been completed and the army end up being overpowered and defeated by the highly trained Samurai. Algren is the only survivor of this battle and in recognition of his bravery and determination Katsumoto spares his life and invites him to stay with the Samurai. During his time with the Samurai, Algren learns quite a bit about their culture and eventually embraces it and fights back against those that had originally hired him to overthrow the Samurai.

Tom Cruise's performances and films tend to vary greatly in quality so I do tend to approach a lot of his films with caution. I can safely say that this is one of his better films and also one of his better performances. Cruise is well-known for bringing a sort of smug arrogance to a lot of his roles and he definitely brings some of that to his role as Captain Algren - although there's only a whiff of it here rather than full on smugness that we've seen from him before. Director and screenwriter Zwick gives Cruise a character he can really sink his teeth into - Algren is obnoxious and rude at the start and shows very little respect for his employees. He's the same with the Samurai at the start, but I think the difference is that the Samurai show him respect and allow him to embrace their culture. The general saying in life is that to 'gain respect you must first give respect' and I got the feeling that this was one of the messages contained within this film.

The first 20 minutes or so of this film are slick and fast-paced, but the momentum does slow down where Algren is staying with the Samurai. Although the pace slackens at this point the film never becomes boring and Algren's narrative and the exploration of the Samurai culture were interesting enough to keep me involved with the story. The only criticism I have with this aspect of the story was when the ninjas attacked the Samurai - I just didn't see the point of it and it also seemed to add nothing to the story, but this really is a minor criticism.

Much like Seven Samurai, The Last Samurai is a slow-burning film that rewards the viewers patience with a spectacular closing act that is epic, clever and heart-breaking. Technical aspects of the film are also superb most notably the beautiful Japanese scenery and wonderful cinematography.

Clearly there are some politics involved here, but the politics are side-lined for the most part to make way for an interesting story about one man identifying more with an alleged 'rebellion' group over his own people. I've no idea how much of this story is true - it certainly references real life people such as General Custer and real-life events such as the battle of little bighorn, but never says anywhere that it's based on a true story. Truth be told, it doesn't matter to me whether the story is true or not because the film has a good story, it's moving at times, it's beautiful to look at, has some wonderful performances and to top it all the final battle is fantastic. Therefore it's very much worth seeing on its own merits.