Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful to look at
Review: But never really hooks the viewer. Good action but contrived.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst
Review: This is just another example of how Westerners cannot make good Asian movies. The characters in this film are unrealistic and silly. The story is cheap and trite. If you like an action comic, this is a good movie to watch, but if you like a realistic samurai drama, you are in for disappointment. The movie makes samurai look like war-happy idiots. Actors are so horrible that I didn't see how they ever got even nominated for Academy Awards. All in all, this is one the worst movies ever made.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent epic adventure.
Review: The Last Samurai tells the tale of a Civil War veteran Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise)who after buring out and hitting the bottle is talked into training a Japanese army to fight using modern western weapons. The film also stars Ken Watabe in an Oscar nominated role as the Samurai leader. I really enjoyed this film. It's epic scope and brilliantly staged battle scenes were breathtaking. The Last Samurai has been compared to "Dances with Wolves" by many as it's a similar story of an American who becomes disallusioned by his own culture and by living with another culture embraces their way of life. The film features brilliant cinematopraphy, excellent acting all around, a great music score and superb fighting scenes. It's a very emotional film and one that I highly recommend, contains scenes of violence so not for children. Thanks for reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome!
Review: I had been interested in this movie, ever since I saw the first movie trailer, but didn't get to see it until recently. I didn't go into it with any real expectations; I knew Cruise was a good actor; I hadn't read any reviews of the movie. I found Ken Watanabe interesting, in pictures or snippets I had seen, regarding his nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but didn't know anything about him, and I expected the movie to be more similar to the "Shogun," mini-series than anything else. I was wrong - it couldn't have been more different from "Shogun," and that's a *good* thing. Cruise was good - I, personally, have not seen him do a bad job in any movie, yet. He certainly met the high standards he set quite some time ago. But, Ken Watanabe took the movie - his character was, in many respects, larger than life - he was intriguing, somewhat mystical, as well as a warrior, a man of honor. Katsumoto, Watanabe's character, was a man who was doing his best to lead his people, and protect their traditions, as best he could, despite the opposition of his Emperor and the people advising him. The movie was poignant, wrenching at times, the overall acting was superb, the cinematography breathtaking, the battle scenes drew you in and kept your attention throughout, and were not, I felt, overwhelming. When the movie was over, both I and my son were left deeply moved by both the story and the wonderful performances of Mr. Watanabe and Mr. Cruise. Definitely a keeper!
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING
Review: This movie deffinately tops all other movies of the year in my book. The Last samurai is an epic about a drunken military man who agrees to train the Chinese with modern day weapons, while fighting for the Chinese he is somehow on the other side, the Japanese. As he trains to become a warrior, a Samurai, he learns honor, a most of all what he didn't seem to have before, pride. This movie ranks upon my top 5 list at place number 1, on a scale to 10 this movie surpasses it by a whole half more, from 1-10 as a must see, The Last Samurai = 15.
Rating:
Summary: Logan's script is so bad.
Review: I saw this movie when it was in theaters and I must say it was among the most over-rated movies I saw in 2003. Between the mis-casting of Cruise in the lead part, and the hollow story as written by John Logan, the over-kill production design and an ending that seemed so unrewarding, I really felt cheated and let down by this picture. So much so, that I left to go to the next movie playing across the hall, and that was LOONEY TUNES; BACK IN ACTION.
Rating:
Summary: "Not Real History But A Fun Fantasy Adventure"
Review: "Not Real History But A Fun Fantasy Adventure", is a simple way to describe this movie. I was very excited to hear this movie was coming out. I have written several papers on the subject and not only admire Edward Zwick's other movies but I am a Tom Cruise fan as well. Unfortunately I was very disappointed in the movie, Tom Cruise was fantastic and the cinematography is beautiful but the film is almost completely "factless". America did open up trade with Japan but French and German officers trained the Japanese imperial army, They at the time had the best Foot soldiers. Also the young Emperor of Japan was not torn between the new and old ways, He instead was the driving force behind modernizing Japan as fast as it did, he saw the Samurai as one of the main reasons Japan had fallen so far behind. The Samurai that rebelled against the Emperor were considered "RONIN" meaning Samurai with no master, and sense Samurai means "To serve" they were despised by the Samurai that served the Emperor and were perceived as Dishonorable. The rebel Samurai also had full divisions that used Firearms, it was not the Bows vs. Rifles you see in the movie. And most importantly it was not the Honorable Samurai protecting the Peasant people from the heartless new way of the Evil imperial Japanese Government, quit the opposite is true. Japan had been divided for more then a century, the clans had known nothing but war. When the Shogun took power the Emperor was nothing more then a symbol and was never allowed to leave his Palace. The Shogun had the real power and the whole time it was most of Japan, the peasants and working class that suffered under the Samurai, They were Honorable warriors but only to other Samurai, ordinary Japanese were considered Less then Men and could be killed at the whims of the Samurai. It was the modernization of Japan that threatened the rule of the Samurai with the Shogun being forced to step down in 1867 and put the power back in the hands of the Emperor as well as the working class of Japan. Most Samurai saw this and surrendered the old way to the new seeing that The Samurai were obsolete, but the few that rebelled were motivated by Power, Status and Wealth that they were losing and not for the People of Japan like the film so badly suggests. This is a fun film if you watch it as a fantasy adventure with no basis in history. I give it a low rating because even thought both Tom Cruise and Edward Zwick admit that this is not what really happened but wanted to capture the spirit of the Samurai in a fiction film, I feel this is irresponsible and that this film dishonors The real history of Japan. I would like to add that the Chinese feel Honoring the Samurai and Japanese values is like Honoring Nazis and their way of life and I don't blame them for feeling that way.
Rating:
Summary: Lord of the Rings meets Braveheart but not only...
Review: Being that this film is based on actual historical occurences it could've been the typical Hollywood silliness extraordinaire complete with massive innacuracies, tons of cheese and syrup, and a dishwashed script. Incredibly, most of the above was avoided with the exception maybe of the historical innacuracies but even those coul've been severe and they weren't. As the plot has been detailed by other reviewers I'll stick to the impression this film leaves you with. The "Last Samurai" is actually a pretty cool flick. The theme (encountered in other older films as well) of the westerner who goes over to Asia with the mindset of a clueless brute only to be engulfed by the age-old philosophy he comes in contact with there is well in effect here and it works like a dandy. Cruise gives his usual very good performance but the show is actually stolen by the Japanese cast headed by the "Katsumoto" character (the Samurai leader) who's simply a treat to watch. There is loads of battling in vast open fields and a lot of gore that accompanies it, and these escenes are absolutely great. The martian arts choreography is excellent and the filming is impeccable as well. But what makes the film really tick are the sequences where after Cruise has been captured by the Samurai he has long and intriguing conversations with Katsumoto while at the same time he's trying to come to grips with a culture he not only doesnt understand but which charms him to death. These sequences are the top stuff this film has to offer and it does so with style. While the Last Samurai does remind of the Lord of the Rings when it comes to the spectacular battle scene and it equally reminds of Braveheart with the super-underdogs taking on bravely the hordes of mechanised soldiers sent by the emperor to crush their rebellion it still maintains a life and heart of its own and keeps you hooked till the end which is (sadly)predictable, conventional and somewhat corny. That, along with the fact that it is probably 20 minutes too long are the only minuses i could attribute to it. Sure, this is Hollywood spreading cliches again, as the Samurai werent as noble as they are usually portrayed since they mindlessly accepted any order coming from the emperor and that included massacring "opponents" at his order regardless of guilt or innocence. But this type of cliche was to be expected. Overall though, this is a probably unexpectedly cool film. Definately recommended, allthough if you see it on a small screen you'll be inevitably missing out on the great photography and camera work, but most importantly the stunning combat scenes, many of which are shot aereally.
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Summary: I can't descibe it...
Review: Go see this movie It was the most incredable visual experience EVER!
Rating:
Summary: The best movie ever
Review: The movie is totally worth the bying on DVD, especially with all those bonuses.
This is a great entertainment which will be enjoyed by many.
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