Le Dernier Samouraï

Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe are an unlikely pair, but they are great together in this beautiful look at the Samurai's way of life. Tom Cruise performance is this film is brilliant, but for some reason the academy chose to ignore him. I think he at least deserved a nomination, but this role was not your average Tom Cruise role. It was risky and he pulled through. Ken Watanabe got the nomination instead of Tom, which I was very happy with. He was excellent and very convincing. In my opinion, he steals the show as Katsumoto. I love Samurai films, so I enjoyed it very much. Not a lot of people favor Samurai films, but it's not your average samurai movie. It's deeper and more emotional. I thought this film was great and I know that this film won't be everyone's cup of tea, but its worth a sip.

9/10

This movie is filled with such excellent performances, beautiful cinematography, well choreographed action scenes, that me not understanding the movie, still liked it anyway.

I don't know much about Japanese culture or about the history of Japan during the late 1800s, so I could not fully understand what was happening in this movie. What impressed upon me is that Nathan Algren, a disallusioned, alcoholic American soldier who went to Japan to train the emperor's troops, was able to find friendship and respect the great samurai, Katsumoto. These two men, from different countries and cultures, were able to become friends because they are both warriors under their very different exteriors.

Tom Cruise is so good in this movie, but it is easy to overlook his performance and just think, wow, this man is so hot! He's even sexy as an alcoholic! This guy is so good looking that it took me awhile to see him as Nathan Algren, and not just Tom Cruise, sexy superstar actor. But once I got use to seeing him in this character, I believed him totally. But Ken Watanabe's emotionally, intense performance, totally blows away Tom Cruise's performance. One can't help but grow to respect this samurai who opposes the western influence in Japan and wants to retain the samurai way of life. This japanese actor is terrific! I hope to see him more in American movies. Even if you don't care for historical movies, you should still go just to see the performance of Ken Watanabe and Tom Cruise.

I won't go into the plot. I think everyone has a pretty good idea of what the plot is. I just have to say, I don't see anything wrong with the japanese emperor trying to modernize Japan by associating with the Western powers, and I don't understand why Katusomoto is so against that. That's the one major problem I have with this movie, is that I don't understand enough of the politics during that time in Japan. Otherwise, this is a pretty great action flick and I enjoyed it immensely.

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

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.

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.