Good Movie

The Last Samurai
The Story

Retired Captain Nathan Algren is fed up with his dull life and still has flashbacks to the horrors he committed during his time in the army against Native American tribes. He spends his time selling rifles to the masses, yet he feels incomplete. A man from Japan come to him with an offer; help train the Japanese soldiers how to fight in the Western style of warfare. They must put down a revolt by some Samurai.

Well all hell breaks loose, and Nathan is captured. This is when he learns the way of the Samurai.

The Review

I didn’t see this movie in the theater, but was able to watch it at home on DVD. This movie opens up to a wonderful shot of the landscape of Japan. I actually like wide shots like this. They show the grand look of the film.

Tom Cruise really isn’t the star of this film despite what the marketing says, the true star is Ken Watanabe. He has powerful presence in every scene. He plays a flawed leader of his people. (Note: Ken Watanabe is going to be in the New Batman Begins movie as Ra's Al Ghul.)

The first battle is one of the best in the film. There is fog within the trees and the soldiers hear chanting before they even see a single Samurai. This was shot very well and the battle is pretty much one sided.

Much credit to the film must go to the music of Hans Zimmer. Zimmer wrote a long sweeping score with a lot of emotion. The score has great action cues as well. The best part is hearing the Samurai cheer in the last section of the film.

There are a few flaws with the film. It seems the movie tries its best to make Tom Cruise a superman. Plus, sometimes this movie leans too close to Glory for its own good.

Overall, despite some flaws and the historic inaccuracies, the movie is entertaining.

Things to look for

~ I noticed one scene where Tom orders a young soldier to load his gun and fire at him. This scene is really similar to Glory.

~ The Asian woman that plays the female lead is just lovely and plays her as a conflicted woman that is honor bound to take care of Tom.

~ Got to love those Samurai swords.