THE LAST SAMURAI (2003) - One of the great films of all time. It's kinda like BRAVEHEART , DANCES WITH WOLVES, THE MISSION, FAREWELL TO THE KING, and LAURENCE OF ARABIA. I was staying away from this film as I'm not a big fan of Tom Cruise, but Cruise really is very effective in this film. I'm probably the last to see this one, but if you haven't seen it yet you won't be dissapointed. The film really captures the Samurai spirit of Bushido and gives us all some insight from both a Westerners perspective and even from an Easteners vantage point. Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe really make this film happen. I also liked the Englishman/translator character.
(http://www.cineclub.de/images/2004/01/last-samurai-7.jpg)
Post Edited (10-06-04 08:37)
I really liked this film too. I was over my uncle's house and he had a copy, so I watched it. I was really enthralled in it, and kept telling him to shut up when he talked...lol. I hate when people do that, especially when they have all ready seen the movie and say "Oh watch this, watch this part." Yeah, that's what I am TRYING to do...watch the damn movie!
As with many other later Tom Cruise films, this one spends too much time praising him. Has this man so little ego that he has to boost it with epic movies? Anyway, the storytelling is OK, the fights great and Ken Watanabe shines as well. Good, but not memorable film if you ask me.
I didn't care for it that much either. It was beautiful, and well acted but just didn't get to me like it did so many others.
It wasn't bad, but my main impression of the movie was that it was just too long at two and a half hours. Halfway through, I was feeling like it should be working its way to a conclusion, and after two hours, I was just wishing it would hurry up and end.
Not that I don't like a long movie. There are a few longer than this one that have held my attention right through multiple viewings. That was because they had a lot of story to take in. This one just had a lot of fat to trim. The Last Samurai, to me, offers nothing that couldn't be told in under two hours. It just felt like it was setting out to be a great movie by putting on all the trappings of an epic, including the long running time.
Personally, I found it interesting in spots, but mediocre overall.
I liked it, not loved it. I was annoyed by the "traditional eastern way of doing things is superior to the crass & crude American way" line. Gee, I never realized that a patriarcal, feudal caste system was superior to a free society. It would have been much better if they had shown the warts of the Samurai system as well as good points about America.
Good point Raj the film seems to focus on honor and such, but maybe there is something to the old ways that is or was right, but the future wins as it always creates the new. Even our current way of life here in America or other "civilized nations" will one day be looked at as an odd way of living and being. Even backwards in many ways. Some may be thinking that even now.
One day all that we have fought and died for will mean nothing. Only that we lived and fought well. I try to enjoy the film(s) as they are when it comes to right and wrong. I don't agree with the message of many films and rather just enjoy taking it in, but your point is well taken Raj.
As far as warts go Asians are generally known for their fine (superior) skin also. : ) Just having fun with you Raj. No offense intended.
Post Edited (10-06-04 12:39)
I got a free DVD of The Last Samurai handed to me while on a trip to Hong Kong and so I was in the right frame of mind to see an eastern point of view expressed in what is basically a western movie about samurai. Give me some serious war fare and I would have been more forgiving. Fighting was okay but not memorable. I was just more embarrassed than anything at how dopey Tom Cruise was ...act-ING-thank you! "I'm a drunk filthy American but I can still kick your asses 10 at a time." PUH-leeze!! Luckily I paid nothing and even happily found stacks and stacks of Akira Kurasawa samurai flicks on DVD for less then $1US over there. In Japan and China young people think he's an old hack and we love him. Seven Samurai, Ran and The Hidden Fortress are miles better than 2 1/2 hours of bad road paved by Tom Cruise. The story seemed borrowed from Dances The Wolves...but I can't blame Cruise for writing it. I like 20% of it.
Yes, I agree Akira Kurasawa films are much better overall. Actually I thought Cruises character was interesting and I have actually know people like that and they have their own sense of honor, but I wouldn't go and put Western swordmanship up against a Master Japanese swordman. It was an interesting scene even though. Last Samurai was a good film perhaps not for all points of view.
It would have been more interesting if Cruise was more like his cocky Top Gun "Maveric" character at the start...THEN got his ass kicked sooo bad he would look like hamburger meat, almost like if General Custer lived through Little Big Horn... THEN he could learn of this new culture. His character did little evolving and basically stopped drinking but always had this healthy respect for his "enemy." Dull. Good point Scott. He's practically a samurai warrior from the get go, as he's evenly matched with soldiers trained since toddlers to wield a sword. Not happin'. Good subject, nice visuals, shoddy script and a slice of ham acting is what I got out of it. Could have been way better. But really it was 2.1% more realistic than Shanghigh Noon.
Sake!!!!
Bring me sake!!!!