The Last Samurai (2003)

 The Last Samurai
Excellent depiction of Japanese culture and the conflict between traditional and modern forces. Great movie. May 11, 2008

 I know the Japanese are accomodating, but this is ridiculous!
If you took Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe out of this storyline, it's really nothing but a Steven Seagal/ Chuck Norris movie. (The Last Samurai is also a reiteration of Harrison Ford's Witness, minus the charm.) Invincible American white man goes to Asian country, learns their tradition to perfection in a mere two seasons, and becomes one of their leaders to lead them into war, and survives the battlefield while every Japanese samurai gets annihilated, ending in a scene where EVERY Japanese soldier kneels and bows to the great white god on the battlefield. When you tell a story where the protagonist has ALL the good cards all the time, it makes you question whether the movie has a message, or is just another advancing notch in cultural imperialism, creating a storyline where natural selection enables the superior party to continue into the next generation. I know entertainment should be treated as entertainment and not historical fact or social theory, but when you have highly questionable circumstances, then it throws the other, more important aspects of the movie into question.

Now I understand that this movie is literally a rice queen's dream come true. I mean, there are very few places in this world where you can kill a man, say "I'm sorry" to the hot widow, and end up hopping in the sack with her. All this while the dead man's surviving children adore and dote over you, the man who killed their father. Once we question the realism of a man being able to master a form of martial arts in a few months, we begin to question the success rate of whether we, can indeed go around killing men if we want to sleep with their wives. And if we can't buy into THAT fantasy, well then what the heck is the point of watching the movie!?

The photography was good and the acting wasn't bad. At one point I wished dearly that the sentimental soundtrack would halt. War is a horrific act of mankind. I think this movie went to lengths to capture the reality and horror of war combined with man against machine, and it came stunningly close. In independent foreign films, war scenes have often been depicted without any lush orchestration. I think that, is a responsible decision. I could not help envisioning the battlefield climax without the soundtrack. Just the hard reality of men's groans, horses neighing, and screams of terror in the stark afternoon air would deliver the message tenfold. I felt insulted that music needed to be enlisted to "help" me feel that way about something so horrific.

Koyuki plays Taka, the widow, who is curiously mute throughout the movie. It's the stereotypical form of submissiveness that the West is comfortable with when it comes to Asian women. Cruise's lack of facial expressiveness is hidden by facial hair, so that helped.

All in all, I thought it had great potential. I gave it an extra star because it came close to capturing how horrific war is, especially when one side is over-armed, and the other has, only honor. April 20, 2008

 Simply Brilliant
Well, I remember the first time I came across this film when my school decided to take the senior boys to the movie, I being one of them those days. 'Last Samurai'. I was absolutely tantalized by the direction, by the beautifull scenario of Japan in the 19th Century, the war, etc. This film unlike many other battle and war oriented films is very very different and its not just the war or the battle sequences that overwhelmes your mind completely., I emphasize that! its also the emotional bond between each charecter. Ken Wantanbe and Tom Cruise were excellent and yes 'Taka' the sweet and beautifull sister of Wantanbe, how could I ever forget her. I am glad I got the movie finally on a DVD. The dvd is the typical loaded dvd with lots of extra features and the documentries were very interesting indeed. Thank you Amazon.com once again. Would purchase from here again! April 7, 2008

 Great movie
This was a very important part of history that everyone should want to know, also important to see how the western civilization affected nations across the globe. March 31, 2008

 The Last Sumari
I am not necessarily a Tom Cruise fan but I thought he did an outstanding job in this role. I loved this movie. It was well cast and written. March 16, 2008

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