Rating: 
Summary: Don't expect too much
Review: What's the reason for watching The Last Samurai? The sword-fighting scenes. There are a lot of sword-fighting scenes, they're well-done, and if you enjoy watching them you'll find entertainment value in the movie. Also, the Japanese countryside is filmed beautifully here, so if you have an appreciation for nature, it's another incentive to watch.Otherwise, The Last Samurai is nothing special. The storyline is simplistic; the samurai are all two-dimensional and unquestionably the fine and good people in the film. They can do no evil, truly. For Cruise it's one of those self-righteous roles where he gets to look angsty for the camera. There's one scene at the end for example, where he's kneeling and holding up a sword, and he's trying to look like someone who is under great emotional strain and there are these ludicrous close-ups of his sweaty face - really gratuitous. The movie defintely would have benefited from some editing and character development.
Rating: 
Summary: Long, slow, boring, pretentious - I want my money back
Review: Typical Hollywood claptrap. All white guys are evil and corrupt. All Japanese are noble, kind, considerate - even though they kill each other with abandon. Apparently in Hollywoodthink it is ok for Cruise to desert, be a traitor and go over to the enemy. Hard to figure out exactly why this Samurai is the enemy, he serves the emperor too, except his honor demands that several thousand die. Glorifies the Bushido code which is the mindless emperor worship that resulted in so many Japanese atrocities in WWII - some of which rivaled anything the Germans did. Swords and arrows flying everywhere, special effects direct from Lord of the Rings. Dialog that telegraphs itself, you just know they are going to say something really relevant and dramatic...in croaking whispers. I was glad when Cruise got shot, meant the movie was finally ending. Save your money, watch it when it shows up on TV. For those reviewers who think this movie has any historical significance - read a book on Japanese history. None of these things would have happened.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterful
Review: This is a great movie. Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, and the rest of the cast play their parts perfectly. This movie is more than just some excellent battle scenes. It's about two completely different peoples learning about eachother while incresingly understanding and accepting a way of life that is not their own. Oh, and there ARE some great battle scenes.
I was a little sceptical when I was about to watch this the first time, but it blew my expectations away, and I loved it. Very few movies can bring this man to tears, but the end of this movie accomplished just that. Do yourself a favor and get a copy of this powerful film.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Show
Review: This movie has it all. Drama, action, amazing battle scenes - the best I've ever seen. It's definitely a must see.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular but predictable epic.
Review: There aren't that many movies set in late 19th century Japan, so top marks to director Edward Zwick for originality of setting. There, however, the originality ends.
The Last Samurai borrows very heavily from A Man Called Horse (with a hefty dash of Dances With Wolves, Soldier Blue and Braveheart).
Tom Cruise gives us a pretty damn good depiction of the tortured, alcoholic civil war veteran Nathan Algren, exorcising the demons of wartime atrocities by going to Japan to ply his trade, but, once the initial battle is complete and he is taken prisoner by Katsumoto's (Watanabe) luddite army, the constraints of a very limited and predictable storyline become apparent.
It is no surprise that Cruise falls for the widow who tends him, nor that he (in remarbly short time) learns to speak Japanese and fight in the manner of the Samurai.
The battle sequences are undeniably spectacular, and the sets, costumes and audio are always first rate. I very much enjoyed Timothy Spall's support role, and Watanabe was convincingly stoic. No surprises though. No sense of wonder. No sense of danger.
You could certainly do a lot worse than to immerse yourself in this beautiful but undemanding epic for a couple of hours - but don't expect too much.
Rating:
Summary: A great story of lost and found honor.
Review: If you don't already know the whole story of this great film, let me tell you what you need to know about it. It is story about regaining self respect. Everyone deals with demons in their past, if you would like to see a film that is exceptionally well acted, and beautifully filmed set in 19th century Japan, that deals with overcoming past mistakes this is a film you will love. If you do, you will really love the book "Faded Sun" by C J Cherryh. A more in depth study of the same issue.
Rating: 
Summary: Tightly Done Historical Action Piece
Review: I was surprised that I actually liked this one, particularly since it seemed to promise just another run-of-the-mill action/adventure period piece. Of course I happen to be partial to these kinds of stories and I have a great fondness for the Japanese variants of same. Still I didn't expect to enjoy this hybrid eastern-western that reworked Japanese history in order to put a dissolute and despondent American war hero (who's tortured by what he did in the Indian wars that followed on the Civil War) into the era of Japanese modernization. Tom Cruise always seems to me to be too cuddly to play such roles and yet I thought he pulled this one off. The story held together and was absorbing if somewhat predictable while Cruise actually proved to be a somewhat convincing American dissolute. That he takes to the Samurai lifestyle and weapons handling practices so readily is a bit hard to believe though the film does a good job of dragging out the learning process enough so that it doesn't look too precipitous. Of course, the American is only with his captors for a few months so it's a little hard to accept that he manages to become expert in Japanese swordsmanship in so short a span. But the film makes it look convincing and that's usually enough in this kind of thing. The battle scenes are also nicely done and the Samurai lord, Katsuomoto, who captures and ultimately befriends the American Algren is powerfully portrayed. Although there was little that was unexpected, Katsoumoto's escape from his enemies at the emperor's court was probably the high point and the least predictable in the film's repertoire of scenes. I'd see this one again for its ambience and tight storytelling, even if it didn't ultimately swallow me up, which, on my view, is the true measure of a great film. -- SWM
Rating:
Summary: Great Film, If Not Historically Accurate
Review: In 1876, Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is living in a bottle. He is a Captain in the U.S. Army who is so ashamed of the things he did in the Indian Wars under Gen. Custer that he has to constantly drink in order to forget the extremely painful memories. Unable to keep a job, he decides to accept an offer from a Japanese noble-man. Along with a few other military officers, including his old Colonel (Tony Goldwyn), whom Algren detests for ordering him to carry out viscious orders, and Algren's friend Zebulon Gant (Billy Connolly), he will travel to Japan to train the imperial army in modern warfare. Japan is trying to modernize after centuries of isolationism, and there is a rebellion led by the Samurai, who believe that by modernizing, Japan is losing its sense of self. The Samurai, led by Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), will do everything they can to protect the traditional Japanese values.
After the first battle, the poorly trained Imperial Army is massacred by the disciplined Samurai warriors, and Algren is the only soldier able to actually defend himself. Sensing his strength, Katsumoto has him taken alive in order to be studied. While in Katsumoto's village, Algren begins to discover many admirable qualities of the Samurai, including their discipline, their loyalty, and most importantly for Algren, their serenity.
This was a great film; it dealt with loyalty, moral ambiguity, and courage. The story, while somewhat predictable, was a good one to tell. However, this story probably is not very accurate, but that can be overlooked. There are some logic problems (Algren learned Japanese FAST), but once again, they don't detract from this great film.
Rating:
Summary: And the good news Is...
Review: ....that Tom Cruise isn't the Last Samuri of the title. Some people who watched the film may be surprised by this, simply because of couse if it stars Tom Cruise he must be the title character, right? Nope, not in this film, and that's the only thing that made it bearable for me. The word Samuri had, at the time in history that the movie takes place, a very specific definition. The last Samuri is the man Tom Cruise's character is captured by, whom he develops a respect for and odd sort of captor-captive friendship with.
There are battle scenes and fights aplenty for the action driven, a forbidden and unspoken atraction, and gorgeous scenery caught by the camera in lovely detail. Most people will actually like this movie, weather you like Cruise or not (I'm a "not" myself).
It's a story told from the perspective of a westerner in Japan. The British are everywhere, in everybody's buisness, and their empire has not yet fallen; guns are new to Japan despite the presense of gunpowder for quite a long time. Wars are changing, fought not by sword and arrow but by cannon and ranked soldiers. Cruise is a drunk American soldier fresh from the Indian wars, shellshocked and consumed by memory. He's hired to teach raw Japanese recruits to fight. There's not enough time, and the first battle is a disaster. Cruise is caught, and the story begins...
Rating:
Summary: Cruising Japan
Review: Tom Cruise appears in yet another film where he rises to the occassion at just the right time, as he has done in many of his previous films, dating back to Top Gun. It a repetitive, tiresome theme that would have me looking for another role if I were him. Don't get me wrong; I like some of his work (Far and Away is one of his best works to date).
As for this film, the cinematography and supporting actor roles are it's primary attraction. It's apparent a lot of research was done to pull off this period piece. The settings and costumes are beautiful. Watanabe plays superbly as the Samurai warrior Katsumoto. He is the real star of this movie.
Unfortunately, the plot is entirely predictable. Cruise is an alcoholic fromer Union Captain named Nathan Algren. He is sent to Japan to train the new Japanese Imperial Army to fight off the diminishing Samurai warriors. He leads his Army into battle against the Samurai and is soundly beaten. Katsumoto spares Algren's life and brings him back to health (queue the music). Algren learns the way of the Samurai warrior and earns the respect of his Samurai brethren. Eventually he has to face the very Japanese Army he helped train, this time fighting on the side of the Samurai.
This is where it goes from unlikely to absurd. Cruise and hundreds of remaining Samurai face off with the Imperial Army in a showdown copied several times over since Mel Gibson's Braveheart. Samurai drop like flies as they charge the inexperienced but better equipped Imperial Army soldiers. As it turns out (no surprise here), Watanabe and Cruise are the last survivors of the battle. Though severely wounded by gunfire, Katsumoto squeezes his abdomen tightly to allow a few more pints of blood to nourish his brain while he performs his farewell speech to Cruise. He dies and leaves Cruise as.....you guessed it! The Last Samurai. I heard that Japanese movie audiences were passing out at the very sight.
On a side note, it's rumored that Nathan Algren returned to America and travelled together with Kung Fu through the desert southwest, metting out some pain to those who crossed them. Unfortunately, Algren returned to the bottle, and in a drunken rage one friday nite, eviscerated Kung Fu at a bar in Tucumcari. Ironically, Algren died shortly thereafter while drinking numerous Grasshoppers. He lies in an unmarked grave just outside of Ft. Sumner, New Mexico.
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