The Last Samurai (2003)

84 out of 96 people found the following review helpful:

A very impressive movie

Sawdon from the North East, 24th February, 2004

While treading some familiar ground here ('Lawrence of Arabia' springs to mind), this movie does itself the great favour of - while being a fictional tale - staying mostly true to the Japan of the time, only swaying slightly from true-life when the story really demands.

Since the movie involves an American heading to Japan to teach them 'modern warfare', I was expecting it to take the chance to wave the old stars and stripes in everyone's faces again. I was pleasantly suprised to see that this is not the case, in fact attacking the actions and lifestyles of the U.S of A (and westerners in general) on more than one occasion.

The story itself is solid (if not startlingly new), direction is well above par, the camerawork beautiful, costumes and sets immaculately designed, and the action sequences (particularly the battles bookending the main story arc) handled with impressive verve.

Cruise performs admirably in his role of Nathan Algren, and is believable throughout all stages of his characters development, through suicidal ex-soldier drunkard, to redeemed warrior with a thirst for something more. 'Oscar' may have passed him over (again), but his performance is borderline flawless.

Support is strong all around, especially Ken Watanabe as samurai/ronin Katsumoto, the man who gradually turns Algren's life around. Billy Connolly is also great, though his role is (sadly) a fairly minor one.

A great movie overall, only very occasionally let down by some slightly iffy dialogue (the sort you've probably heard in a hundred movies before). This however does not stop 'The Last Samurai' from being an exceptionally impressive experience.

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33 out of 55 people found the following review helpful:

And then Hitler won the war...

A Customer from Wiltshire, England, 6th August, 2004

Okay, right from the start let's get one thing straight. This film is stupid. Really, REALLY stupid.

Tom Cruise plays a DRUNK. We know this because at the start of the film he has an unkempt BEARD, he carries a BOTTLE, and he SHOUTS. He also gets very upset about KILLING PEOPLE.

Naturally, as a drunk in a funk, Tom decides the best thing to do to assuage his guilt is to take a job that involves killing lots more people, but getting paid lots more money for doing it.

His task is to train a Japanese army in the use of guns. The problem is, the army are RUBBISH, and they get severely beaten up by some Samurai.

Tom gets captured by the Samurai, who keep him alive because he is bloody mean and has a tendency to stab people in the neck if they get too close. He also has a s**t-eating grin that everybody loves, even the wife of one of his victims.

After sulking for a while, Tom starts to learn the language of the Samurai, and learns how to get a sound thrashing from bigger, meaner warriors than he is. The purpose of this? It's redemptive, you see.

Tom subsequently learns a lifestyle involving stabbing people with swords is ultimately more fulfilling than a lifestyle stabbing people with bayonets.

And that's it for the hole-pocked narrative, which mainly exists in order to string together some rather nice fight scenes.

But hey, who cares when everything looks this good? Tom can act a part like this in his sleep, and you never doubt his ability to kick ass for a second. The battles are epic, free of the CGI trickery we are coming to expect, and the scenery is beautiful. Every lingering camera shot speaks a thousand times more about why Tom would fall in love with the Samurai lifestyle than his cornball dialogue does.

For every gap in the films logic (the bad guys have an army of lethal ninjas that seems to make the need to learn how to use guns rather redundant), there is a moment of brilliance. Like the edge-of-the seat, rain-drenched duel, or a moment of serenity as tree blossoms fall in the heat of bloody battle.

The most important thing to remember is that historical accuracy has no place here. This film has been made to entertain, and on that score it can be forgiven for its sins. I gave it five stars, but that's because I don't go to the cinema for a history lesson. I am sure there are more than a few people who would want to argue with me on that.

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16 out of 20 people found the following review helpful:

Surprisingly Good Cruise Vehicle

Nigel Aspin from Lancashire, 22nd June, 2004

I'm not really a Tom Cruise fan (he's usually one splinter away from wooden), but he's actually quite good in this.

It's a longish film at 2hrs 20min, and may seem a little slow at first, but this leisurely beginning is what makes the film a success.

It allows time for the director to flesh out the main characters, (and particularly the relationship between the two male leads), so that when the well filmed hacking and slashing crops up later on, you genuinely care what happens.

Even if you're usually a Cruise avoider - give it a go - trust me - you will enjoy it.

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15 out of 17 people found the following review helpful:

Entertaining

imran from , 4th November, 2004

Another excellent effort from Tom Cruise who seems to be one of those actors blessed with an ability to pick decent scripts. An epic and beautiful tale about a soldier's redemption amongst the peaceful but hard-as-nails Samurai has to be tempered by the fact that it's all historical nonsense, along with the rather improbable notion that a drunken US army captain can turn into a formidable Samurai warrior in the space of a few months. I'm sure any Japanese film goers would laugh out loud, but if you can get over these flaws and the Cruise trademark grin you will get an exciting and at times moving experience.

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The last Samurai

madcthing from , 6th March, 2010

This film is absolutley outstanding, its shorley going to be one of those films that will be a cult classic. The photography, the scenery, the locations and the acting are second to none. I only have one critism, and that is Billy Connolies bloody awful Irish accent. But the film is well worth a five star rating.

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Cruise control!

MrLee from , 2nd March, 2010

The last samurai is a brilliant movie! Gripping throughout and i felt that Cruises lead performance was fantastic. By the end of the movie i wanted to go and sign up alongside Cruise to carry on the samurai tradition, but then remembered it is set hundreds of years ago! :( Anyhoo the story is great and the acting and action sequences are superb. Has become one of my favourite movies.

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Bonus Feature

A Customer from Reading, 19th February, 2010

I think the Bonus Feature DVD should not count as a DVD and must be sent along with the movie.

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Dances With Ninjas

grantf from , 12th July, 2009

OK, so it's Dances With Wolves With Ninjas and the plot is completely predictable, but a solid performance from Cruise and some epic battle sequences make this a lot better than it deserves to be. The score is excellent and the film is stunning to look at.

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