The Last Samurai



This is going to be the winter of the historical epic, and the first entry is The Last Samurai. Set in 1876-77, Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is a U.S. Cavalry officer hired by a Japanese minister (played by director Masato Harada) to help modernize the Japanese armed forces and lead an attack against another rebellious minister named Katsumoto (Ken Watanbe). Katsumoto has pledged his life to traditional samurai values, and should not be much of a threat to an infantry armed with rifles. But in their first battle Algren is captured by Katsumoto and held as a captive for most of a year. in that time Algren learns the way of the samurai and joins Katsumoto's rebellion.


I think I'm turning Japanese, turning Japanese, I really think so...

The Last Samurai is a pretty good movie. The script is by the numbers for this kind of epic, and it is not terribly historically accurate. This is more of an American version of Japanese culture. Incidentally Japan went to Prussia to modernize their army, not America.

But there are other things about the movie that are worth seeing.

The acting is all good. Tom Cruise's character is supposed to be cocky and rude at the beginning of the film, and insufferably sincere by the end, which is good because those are the only two modes Tom Cruise has. Billy Connolly is Cruise's first overweight British sidekick, while Timothy Spall plays the emergency backup overweight British sidekick. Ken Watanbe is suitably charismatic as the guy leading a doomed cause.

But the real draw is the action, which is well mounted and generally exciting. There's a particularly neat scene where ninjas attack Katsumoto's house and Algren gets to use his samurai training for the first time. Not that I think this movie's battle scenes will hold a candle to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King next month. But judging from the audience reaction I saw, The Last Samurai should be a big hit.

Posted: Sat - November 29, 2003 at      

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