The Last Samurai

Edward Zwick's "The Last Samurai" is about two warriors whose cultures make them aliens, but whose values make them comrades. The battle scenes are stirring and elegantly mounted, but they are less about who wins than about what can be proven by dying. Beautifully designed, intelligently written, acted with conviction, it's an uncommonly thoughtful epic. Its power is compromised only by an ending that sheepishly backs away from what the film is really about.

Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe co-star, as a shabby Civil War veteran and a proud samurai warrior. Cruise plays Nathan Algren, a war hero who now drifts and drinks too much, with no purpose in life. He's hired by Americans who are supplying mercenaries to train an army for the Japanese emperor, who wants to move his country into the modern world and is faced with a samurai rebellion.

The role of the samurai leader Katsumoto (Watanabe) is complex; he is fighting against the emperor's men, but out of loyalty to the tradition the emperor represents, he would sacrifice his life in an instant, he says, if the emperor requested it. But Japan has been seized with a fever to shake off its medieval ways and copy the West, and the West sees money to be made in the transition: Representatives from the Remington arms company are filling big contracts for weapons, and the U.S. Embassy is a clearinghouse for lucrative trade arrangements.

Into this cauldron Algren descends as a cynic. He is told the samurai are "savages with bows and arrows," but sees that the American advisers have done a poor job of training the modernized Japanese army to fight them. Leading his untried troops into battle, he is captured and faces death -- but is spared by a word from Katsumoto, who returns him as a prisoner to the village of his son.

Recommended.

'The Last Samurai' features some very cool and entertaining battle sequences, which are shot excellently. The premise itself is attracting, it's acted out astutely by the noteworthy cast list. It probably lasts too long, but I never truly got a feeling of it dragging out though.

Tom Cruise is fantastic as Capt. Nathan Algren. It's no secret or surprise as we all know that guy can act, he adds a great deal to his character here; especially on the emotional side of things. As for what happens with Algren, it's all good even if the love interest parts are undercooked.

Ken Watanabe is splendid in the role of Katsumoto, while Masato Harada (Omura) and Timothy Spall (Graham) give positive performances. It's also nice to see Billy Connolly (Gant) and Scott Wilson (Swanbeck) appear. Hans Zimmer's score is, as presumed, grand. That would be one of a number of reasons why I'd say you should watch this.

"Nathan Algren" (Tom Cruise) is a disenchanted, alcoholic Captain who, post American Civil War, is offered the chance of a fresh, lucrative, start in Japan training some raw recruits to form the basis a standing Imperial Army. He arrives and is presented to the young, forward-looking but somewhat intimidated Meiji Emperor and it subsequently becomes clear that his purpose is primarily to assist Ômura, the Prime Minister, to create a military force capable of defeating the traditionalist, but loyal, Samurai clan of "Kausumoto" (Ken Watanabe). The first skirmish doesn't quite go to plan, and "Algren" is captured. Over the harsh winter, he befriends his warlord captor and the film begins to introduce us to the honourable and upright values of the man and of his beliefs and fundamental, if at times, ruthless decency. It mixes truth with fiction in a clever, unsentimental manner - Watanabe's performance is considered and engaging as the man on the cusp of a new era which neither he, nor his people, want or understand. Cruise is clearly the man behind the concept and is to be commended for bringing this gloriously good looking story to the screen; he is not, however, especially good in the lead - the part calls for a sophistication that he, as an actor, simply doesn't possess. There is also a curious role for Scots comedian/actor Billy Connolly who originally enlists "Algren" to the cause - with an accent that is all over the place. Masato Harada delivers well as the devious Minister who, in his own way, wants his society to adapt and flourish and Shichinosuke Nakamura gives the person of the Meiji emperor a caring, aspirational vulnerability that helps give the whole film a sense of truth and authenticity. The technical standards - especially during the frequently brutal battle scene are consistently high.