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I just watched The Last Samurai online.
Movie Title: The Last Samurai The Last Samurai is available for streaming or downloading. |
As a Japanese living in the United Staes, I can say totally, that this film is amazing. There’re some critics says Tom Cruise’s acting and so on, however, this film sucessfully depicts the history of Japan, and people’s traditional lives and the end of samurai era.
This is a spectacular movie with sweeping sword actions and it is based on the true history events in japan, I’ve seen a lot of samurai movies(made in japan for japanese) but i can say this one is GREAT as the other movies, plus this is not usual hollywood movies that awfully depicts samurais and even Yakuzas and brush off the truth.
I can say, however, without Tom Cruise, this movie could have also been great as well. But i would guess that it is because of him, this movie gained more attention among people and so typical americans can get the idea of what samurai really is and what they really think.
so overall i gave this movie 5 stars. I plan to go watch it again.
This film has been compared (a lot) to Dances with Wolves due to the fact that they both share similar themes. A Civil War era soldier who finds himself thrown in the middle of a different culture and ends up embracing it and becoming part of it.
However, Edward Zwick’s film differs from the Kevin Costner Oscar winner in that the principal character, Lt. Nathan Algren (Cruise) is down on his luck, having become a drunken caricature of his former self, deeply regretful of his actions, who accepts a job as an instructor for an incipient Japanese army that needs to be prepared to fight against the Samurai.
As he arrives to Tokyo he starts training a useless bunch of would-be soldiers who are sent to fight even if they’re not ready for it. As a result, the newly formed army gets butchered by the battle experienced Samurai. During that battle, Algren fights bravely and kills one of the highest ranking warriors, getting the interest of the famed Katsumoto, the last great Samurai leader, who orders him captured and brought to his son’s village as a prisoner.
Once there, Algren’s life is changed forever as he gets to know the real lifestyle of the Samurai and their people. They turn out not to be the savages that the Japanese government makes them out to be. After spending winter with them, Algren “changes sides” and joins the Samurai in fighting the Emperor’s army.
The title of the movie tells the final outcome. The Samurai lose the battle. Progress triumphs over tradition. New over old. But Algren’s past demons are redeemed by his courageous actions helping the Samurai.
The true worth of this movie is its look. You can definetely see where the budget went (other than Cruise’s salary). A whole village was built and the attention to detail is astonishing. The costumes are simply amazing, especially the battle armors. The costume designer is Ngila Dickson, who also worked in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Also of notice are the battle scenes, which are breathtaking. Very violent, but not gratuitous, they serve the story very well.
As for the acting, Cruise does a fine job, and is slowly but consistently becoming a better actor (even if this particular performance was not nominated for an Academy Award), but the movie belongs to Ken Watanabe (who was indeed nominated) as Katsumoto. His presence demands attention. He is the center of every scene he’s in. Koyuki’s performance as Taka, Katsumoto’s sister and Algren’s love interest, should also be noticed.