Rating: 
Summary: Land of the Rising Cliche
Review: Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is a Guilty White Man. The kind of Guilty White Man that Hollywood loves to kick. His crime? He served under the Evil White Man, General Custer to kill Indians. Peace loving, defenseless Indians. Capt. Algren has to stay drunk or the memories of the slaughter will dominate his every thought. But the killing's don't stop there. Capt. Algren get's another opportunity to flex those murderous skills all White Men are supposed to have. At least in this film. What opportunity? He get's to kill Japanese! But only for big bucks, of course; after all, Capt. Algren isn't just a GWM, he's a Guilty White Man Capitalist! (Boo! Hiss!). After being hired by Westernized (Boo! Hiss!) Japanese to help crush a nasty little samurai rebellion, Algren arrives on sacred New Zealand, er, I mean Japanese soil (we are told at the beginning that Japan is a divine land - or something - but I digress). And he immediately attempts to turn Japan's army into a modern death machine. Unfortunately, the "soldiers" he attempts to train are thrown into battle before they can even march properly. The result? You can guess. Indeed, in the films only good scene, a mighty army of samurai emerge from a mist like demons, butchering the soldiers. Anyway, Capt. Algren is captured alive. Why? Because he can fight! The samurai leader, Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), is so shocked at the sight of a White Man who can fight, he just has to keep him. Ain't that sweet? Algren is brought to Katsumoto's hideout and is soon taken on a Discovery Channel tour of Japanese culture. The result? Algren likes to play with shiny samurai sword. And falls in love with a pretty Japanese woman (which, thank Allah, never goes anywhere). Indeed, after only a few months, Capt. Algren becomes Super Samurai Jedi Master, and is ready to hate his own race. Wow, talk about re-education. Whitey-san joins the samurai rebellion and takes part in a final battle that looks like it was lifted, shot by shot, from Braveheart. It must be said that Tom Cruise's flowing hair put's in a decent performance, whilst Ken Watanabe has the easy role of brooding and looking important all the time. The story itself is partially inspired by a true event: when the samurai system was abolished in the late 19 century, the samurai were out of work. No more heads to cut off. So they rebelled. The character of Katsumoto is based upon the man who lead that rebellion, Saigo Takamori. But Takamori was no saint. He resigned from the Japanese government after the Emperor refused to invade and conquer Korea. It was, in fact, over that issue that the rebellion began. Indeed, the samurai weren't fighting for "honor", they were fighting for privilege. Ultimately, in the film, Katsumoto is fighting for the wrong Japan. Thanks to Western influence, Japan became a strong, modern nation. A nation in firm control of its own destiny. If anything, this fact exposes the films attempt to draw an analogy between the samurai and the North American Indian as not only foolish, but insulting. But hey, this is Hollywood.
Rating: 
Summary: Alarmingly good
Review: A fascinating, powerfully resonant film. Tom Cruise is as serious a character actor as they come. Ken Watanabe and the other Japanase nationals are incredibly good as well. Excellent casting. I don't want to rattle on--this film is not for everyone, perhaps, but certainly the best film I've seen in a while. The assassination attempt will leave you breathless. An excellent centerpiece for the samurai genre.
Rating:
Summary: This was a GREAT MOVIE. You who gave it 4 Stars I don't agr
Review: The Last Samurai was a great movie. For you negative reviewers who decided to only give this 4 or less Stars instead of the 5, your comments are not really relevant to the quality of this movie. I don't agree with your negative comments. Probably the best "American" made Japanese movie of all time. The acting, drama, story, action, characters were incredible. Being that this was based partly on a true event, this makes this movie even more incredible and remarkable. Everyone I know enjoyed this movie. Others including me felt this was the best movie they've ever seen. I have never been so involved dramatically when watching a movie. There comes a time when you are watching a movie when you know what you are watching is a great movie. I felt that way while watching this movie. Incredible.
The Special features were incredible also. So many documentaries were incredible. And I especially enjoyed the Japan premiere segment and hearing how the actors felt on the opening of this movie in November. Very interesting comments. I only wished they had also included the other Theatrical Trailer which came out later. But that doesn't diminish the quality of the special feature DVD. It was very thorough and very interesting.
For you reviewers such as Joe Haschka, Geoffrey S. Ryder, and Robert who only gave it 4 Stars, ridiculous. Your criticisms had nothing to do with the quality and greatness of this movie. You said it was a romanticized portrayal of the Samurai. Yes, it was more idealized and positive, but nothing wrong with that. If you have a problem with that, don't watch this movie. But that doesn't detract from the movie. And you keep trying to compare this to Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece the Seven Samurai. Don't do that. They are 2 different movies and to compare a movie with another one does not allow you to be unbiased. You can't make a critical review of the movie. To Joe Haschka who said this movie was 30 minutes too long. Ridiculous. This movie went by so fast and I wished it were 30 minutes longer or more. However long this movie, I wish it were more because the story and quality of this movie made it incredible. Nothing disrespectful to Master and Commander...., but I saw that movie. If you like it, that's good. But I felt The Last Samurai was much better in my view. I felt it was a much better movie and story from my view. The Slo motion put even more drama on the characters and movie. It was an incredible technique to use. And please don't compare it to Dances with Wolves which alot have. They have some similarities, but are 2 totally different movies about 2 different cultures. Again, if you compare a movie to another movie, you can't be unbiased and can't make an objective review. To Robert Graves who made a illogical negative remark that the Ninja fighting made the movie like Kill Bill 1, again not necessary review. This movie was not Kill Bill and should not be compared to this. Again, it seems another reviewer trying to find something wrong with this movie just to be negative. The Ninja fight was just a fighting sequence that had nothing to do with Kill Bill 1. And to make a ridiculous remark that you didn't like some of the visual effects such as the Mount Fuji Paintings or others as a reason for only giving this 4 out of 5 is again such a little reason to dislike a film.
Alot of you people were just trying to find one little reason to dislike this movie for whatever reason. This movie didn't deserve those annoying criticisms. This was a great movie. I wish you wouldn't give such negative reviews that weren't necessary. Even though I say this, I can't make you change your mind and to each his own. But I felt this was a great movie, and the flaws that you talked about that you felt about this movie don't have much relevancy with the movie I saw. J.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a masterpiece but quite enjoyable for war films fans...
Review: I bought the DVD following the recommandations of my sons (both) wich said it was OK.
I do not bother to go to the theathers anymore... people talking (as I used to do when a jolly youngster...) get on my nerves now...
Getting to the point, I do not think it's "dances with samurais" as someone cleverly has pointed out, at least to so much extent to make the thing redundant...
Cruise is quite subdued and the japanese actors (all) are superb, the script of an alcoholic US Captain "going native" is plain enough but the shooting (meaning the film!)and swordmanship
(meaning the action scenes) are superb.
So OK, let's say four stars but could have been five if not for the Hollywood ending... (really after getting multiple gatling shots Cruise seems like Superman, or Peter Sellers in the opening scene of the classic "The Party" in wich as a would be "Gunga Din" gets shot&shot and refuses to die... the funniest thing in the gag is when eveybody including the british and indian army plus the "baddies" start shooting at him too! just to end the infernal noise of the trumpet...).
Good film overall. I think Cruise can act and in the future (when less of a male symbol for teenagers) his performances are going to improve...
In some scenes he looks positively overweight I think on purpouse!.
RECOMMENDED TO ACTION&ADVENTURE FANS.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Moving Film
Review: This period piece depicts the mythological heros of the "modern world". These heros are those who have been stained or brought into direct conflict with the modern philosophies of Western imperialism, reductionism, materialism and industrialism, and all of the consequences which follow. This film is about the war between "modern Western philosophy" and traditional Oriental philosophy, and how the latter was and continues to be butchared and brutalized to the extent that globalization and Westernization really amount to the same thing. Most importantly, aside from the powerful story-telling, this film shows how traditional cultures and socieites, those that are not in tune with Western notions of progress, are reduced to antiquity and their Sacred characteristic dismissed as "out-dated" and hense "worthless", except of course to fill museams and "academic" studies.
The final scene depicts the samurai charging into machine gun fire in the ultimate act of resistance against a Japan submitting it's culture and ethics to the invading social order of Western culture.
The main hero (Cruise) is placed in the historic settings of late Nineteenth Century Japan amidst the rebellion of the samurai class to the centralization of state control on the premiss of Western modernity and its secularization of all things spiritual and meaningful.
This film also captures the very Spirit of Japanese religion (here including all of the various traditions within Japan's spiritual economy) as it was practiced and internalized by the warrior class.
If one raises the objection that the samurai were the bad guys who didn't want to give up their high position in the caste system, and that the caste system is anti-democratic, then one has to answer for the caste system created by secular democracy, a caste system where the untouchables are those who seek transcendent meaning, wereas the Brahmins are those who devote their lives to material pursuits and business. The caste system itself is unavoidable, but the caste system of tradition societies like Japan were founded upon the Sacred and not, as is the case with secular democracy, in opposition to it.
Rating:
Summary: Tom Cruise ruined it for me
Review: I was originally hesistant about watching this film, the main reason being Tom Cruise. I knew that with a larger than life star such as Cruise starring in a movie like this, the focus would be on him and not on the other characters. Guess what? I was right.
Even if I enjoyed the film immensely, I was so disappointed with the treatment of the other Samurai warriors apart from Katsumoto. Ujio particularly should have been given more screen time. Ken Watanabe and Hiroyuki Sanada were exceptional. Actually, all the Japanese actors did great jobs as actors, but Tom Cruise being the mega-superstar that he is naturally became the focus of every single scene he was in. A less popular actor than Tom Cruise would have been so much better for the film, since most of the time I had some real difficulty seeing the character Capt. Nathan Algren and not the movie star Tom Cruise. I thought the title of the film was The Last Samurai, not the Last American Civil War Veteran Who Came to Japan.
Rating:
Summary: Superb supporting cast, really good!
Review: Despite Tom Cruise's somewhat wooden performance - OK does he have more than two facial expressions? His best performance of the film was when he managed to squeeze out tears to the emperor. Otherwise, he has really two facial expressions, the wrinkled brow for everything from facing danger, to feeling love; and the smile/laugh. But Cruise is a presence on-screen and his relationship with Katsimoto was very compelling. But Katsimoto, Taka, and the whole supporting cast were absolutely fabulous. Not since Shogun have I felt so entrenched in Japanese society. The film did a magnificent job of capturing that period of Japanese history when the modern industrial age was overtaking traditional Japanese culture. Yes, I agree, the battle scenes were a la Braveheart, and the beginning is a la Dances with Wolves, so some originality there would have been welcome. But all in all, it was a really good movie from the director and cast. I really liked it much more than I expected to. It was in my top ten for the year.
Rating:
Summary: A first rate film
Review: This movie is surprisingly good -- it is an exciting action film and is respectful of Japanese culture. My friends who saw it liked it, including Japanese people. That is interesting to know, because in general the Japanese I talked to did not like the TV series "Shogun," which had a similar plot. The makers of "The Last Samurai" clearly had affection and respect for their material, which is evident on the screen. Some other thoughts I had: - I liked all of the cast. Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, and especially Hiroyuki Sanada as the supremely skilled warrior stood out for me. - Director Ed Zwick also directed "Glory" (1989), one of my all time favorites. His handling of the battle scenes in "Samurai" reminded me a lot of the earlier film. The cinematography this time around was even better though. - As people have pointed out, Akira Kurosawa and others have made awesome action movies about the samurai before. I recommend "Seven Samurai" and "Ran" as two of the best. - The Tom Cruise character makes this story about Japan more understandable and accessible for Westerners. Some Japanese movies seem to end up on the art house circuit instead of in general release in the 'States because you have to understand a lot about Japan to appreciate the stories. This movie won't suffer from that problem. - Many (all?) little boys around the world who play war games with sticks know at least one Japanese word: samurai. In general I think they deserve their high reputation as civilized warriors because of their unique discipline and appreciation of the arts, religion, and philosopy. That sets them apart from fighters of other times who were brutes or bullies without a code of morality. Still, as I'm no longer a little boy, I have a more critical view of the samurai these days. As it says on the DVD, they were a class of arisocrats, an unelected government who repressed the majority of the people in Japan for hundreds of years. Watch Toshiro Mifune's incredibly moving speech about their injustices in "The Seven Samurai." That was in the back of my mind as I watched Ken Watanabe, Tom Cruise and the rest gallop off to a glorious finale. This film is a romanticized portrayal of the samurai, and I was comforted to recall during the movie's sad moments that their departure wasn't such a terrible thing after all.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Cruise Epic
Review: I am no movie critic, just as no one else who writes their own user reviews on this site is but in many ways, we are more important than the world-reknowned movie "experts". While the Ebert's and Roeper's are constantly invited to big premiere's and likely never lay out one single dime to view a movie, it is us; the paying customers, whose dimes make or break a film. That being said, I have put my foot in my mouth in the past when discussing certain actors. Up til now, I've always felt Tom Cruise to be overrated and nothing more than eye candy for starstruck females. As a mere movie fan, I feel as if every actor who achieves greatness has their definitive film that catches my attention and convinces me that they are more than I bargained for. Robert Deniro had "Raging Bull". Ray Liotta had "Goodfellas". Johnny Depp had "Donnie Brasco". Denzel Washington had "Malcolm X". Now, after years of consistently maintaining that Tom Cruise had no more acting talent than a dead carp, "The Last Samurai" has fully inserted foot into my mouth. Actually, I should take a small step back. Within the past year, I have come to learn that Tom Cruise had personally help finance films that he saw that were running into trouble in the home stretch. When things began to look somewhat grim, Tom Cruise helped get "Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels" and "Narc" into American theaters and as a huge fan of both movies, I felt a need to tip my hat to Mr. Cruise for getting those movies attention that they may not otherwise had received. Like me, Tom Cruise was a fan on movies first and I respect that. However, I had yet to see his acting work turn me fully around. "The Last Samurai" changed that forever. In short, Tom Cruise plays a Civil War Captain who has nightmares of murdering innocent Native Americans in battle. These nightmares feed his obvious drinking problem. He is offered a job for 4 times his regular pay to sail to Japan and train an army to battle the remains of the ancient samurai. Despite their inability to perform, the new Japanese army marches into battle prematurely and amidst a stampede by the samurai, he is captured alive. During his captivity, he meets Katsumoto and through the winter months, he slowly grows to understand their culture and their respect for life and death. All of this is climaxed in the final battle when he rides out in battle as a samurai with Katsumoto in what ends up being probably the greatest battle scene ever committed to film or at least on par with that of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. The acting by the entire cast is superb. Tom Cruise's transformation from tragic figure to hardened warrior is nothing short of flawless. The respectful manner in which the samurai is portrayed takes you back into a period in history where you clearly witness a clash of civilizations. One of the finest ways that this is captured is the poetic and ballet-esque motion of the battle sequences. One can tell immediately that the director went to great lengths to avoid having this film be categorized as merely another "samurai flick". It is instead a great, epic film about a culture that was driven into the annals of history and all but forgotten about. The total package includes a supplement disc containing a virtual well of special features that take you on a stunning detailed ride behind the camera with interviews, historical comparisons, costume and set designs and training for battle sequences. A package this superbly concocted is a crime to ignore.
Rating: 
Summary: I HAVE ISSUES SO IGIVE IT A 3 star
Review: OK this was a great movie kept me there till the end and had my friends talking about it for a while. Great work on the costumes and storyline was kind cool even though we saw it coming all along. Now we know he is a captain a soldier who has been through some nasty battles BUT I DONT like the way he talks about it! I have read some war books most are based on real events and soldiers no matter what rank never wanted to talk about the events on the battlefield due to its harsh reality! But this charachter from west shows his exeperience of! thats the way i see it sry if i sound weird. Anyway some secenes i found slow and dragging sometimes and i dont think he had to kill thast rebel leader JUST REFUSE MAN! But those things can be ignored i think i saw this too much so i am not nice. MAYBE ITS CAUSE I HAVE ISSUES HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!..........(>_<)evil, yes i am.
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