Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
I haven’t seen it yet, but just talking to Harry about it, my worst fears have been confirmed. In the script, the ninjas vs. samurai fight ruled, and everything else was like a weak DANCES WITH WOLVES retread. Before you bitch about that description, let me say that I really like DANCES WITH WOLVES. That’s why I don’t need a retread of it. Not even with John Toll photography.
Anyway, Warner Bros. did the studio sneak on Saturday, and a ton of you saw it. Since I haven’t, I’ll cut the jibba jabba and just let you tell us what you thought. First up... behold Tashtego!!
Harry,
I've never really had anything of great import to send you before, living in southern Indiana and all, but I managed to catch a sneak preview of The Last Samurai last night, and since I hadn't seen much about it yet, I thought I'd send it your way. I don't know how you prefer to recieve files, so I included it in the body of the email and attached it in word format. If you use it, call me Tashtego.
Full Review:
It goes without saying that every ‘serious film’ released this December has to be viewed in light of one question: Does it stand a chance of beating The Return of the King for Best Picture? The answer for The Last Samurai is a resounding no. In fact, my guess is it won’t even get the nomination. Why? Because it is a good film that wants to be great. It really wants to be great. There are times when the entire movie is creaking under the strain of trying to be great. Unfortunately, it is for this very reason that it fails. In the age of irony that we live in, a straight-faced hero story is among the hardest of tales to tell. Just ask Kevin Costner. Don’t misunderstand – there’s a lot going on here that works, and works very well. The whole concept of the Samurai is fleshed out as well as I’ve seen, and we get a real picture of their way of life slowly and heartbreakingly dissipated. Ken Watanabe in particular does some fine work as the Samurai Lord Katsumoto, and I can only hope that this moves him more into the mainstream of American film. He has the sort of withering stare that makes you want to look away, even though you know it’s just a projected image. Mix this with the more achingly human aspects of his performance and you’ve got the most Oscar-worthy performance in the whole shebang. Sorry Tom.
Don’t worry, though, because Mr. Cruise also has some fine moments. Most notably when he is dealing with the disgust he has for being a part of the genocidal white race. In fact, if the screenplay had delved more deeply here, it may have gone over the wall into greatness. However, the screenplay is the weakest element here by far, and I think it actually cements John Logan’s reputation as “overrated.” I loved Gladiator, but let’s face it, no one walked out saying, “Wow, what a screenplay.” And as far as Star Trek: Nemesis goes, I just want to officially thank him for taking a final steaming dump on a franchise that I’ve loved for years. The Last Samurai puts him on a roll I’m not sure he wants to be on, quality-wise. He relies on multiple voice-overs and flashback scenes to tell a backstory that anyone in the audience who is at least an eighth-grade graduate doesn’t need explained further anyway. He also has apparently never met a stereotype he didn’t like. Whether it’s the morally bankrupt commanding officer, the veddy veddy British diplomat, the weak-but-decent leader, or the profanity-spouting Irishman, you’ll most likely form a sort of ‘haven’t I see you somewhere before?’ bond with at least half of the cast. The drawback obviously being that you have seen them before. His dialogue is occasionally stilted, often bland, and rarely inspiring in the epic, David Lean sort of way he’s obviously shooting for. Oh, and look for the moment when he rips off Braveheart during the climactic battle so blatantly that I can imagine Mel Gibson retaining an attorney. There are times that he tries so desperately to economize his exposition and move the story along that he comes across looking a bit like a screenwriting student, and not a particularly good one. At one point, Algren (Cruise) is given the opportunity to ask his captor (Watanabe) a few questions. There are two pieces of information he needs to make a logical deductive connection about the woman who is caring for him (Japanese actress Koyuki, getting the Madonna award for most earnest non-performance by a single-name actress). The problem is that these two pieces of information shouldn’t have any connection in his mind (or if they do, we don’t know about it), and yet they just happen to be the first two questions he asks. Why? Because it moves the plot along at a brisk pace. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining about that, because one of the other major problems with this movie is that it’s just too long. More often than not, I get excited when I see a running time over 120 minutes on a film. Most of the movies I love check in over the two-hour mark, and in fact, with ticket prices what they are today, I often feel cheated by a ninety-minute film. However, this movie just begs to be about fifteen minutes leaner. Too much time is spent on Cruise looking pained, for sure, but there are two scenes at the end of the movie that are totally unnecessary and nearly destroy the power of the final scene between Algren and Katsumoto.
Let me try to put this in context. History tells us that the Samurai lifestyle was eventually wiped out in any meaningful way by Western influences and the industrialization of Japan. One of the film’s strong points, until the last two scenes, is that it isn’t afraid of leading us toward that inevitable conclusion. At the last moment, however, it flinches. Probably because the studios were afraid of putting a Tom Cruise vehicle out there that ended on a low note, or perhaps because they believed a holiday movie had to end on an up beat. For whatever reason, after asking us to believe that a pair of Gatling guns wiped out every single Samurai on the field except Our Hero Tom, we are treated to two scenes that scream “Hollywood Ending” louder than anything in recent memory. I wonder if this particular gaffe was Logan’s idea or not. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t matter. Walk out when all the Japanese soldiers are bowing to their fallen enemies, and you’ll most likely feel that you saw a better movie than I did. Stay, and you’re on your own.
Now, since I believe in pointing out the good along with the bad, here are some high points. First, the cinematography is really something to behold. Unlike, say, The English Patient, which I truly believe got the Oscar just because sand dunes look totally cool on film, John Toll really finds the beauty of the countryside he is filming. So much of Japanese art is about style and composition, and this is not lost on Toll. In fact, I found myself often dwelling more on the depth and richness of his framing than on whatever was actually happening on-screen. This movie should not get nominated for many things that it probably will, but I’d love to see John Toll get the nomination here that he deserves.
Ed Zwick, while at least somewhat responsible for a lot of the crap I’ve mentioned, should also be credited for his portrayal of life in the idyllic little Samurai village. While the characters we meet here are all somewhat familiar to us (the angry friend of the fallen Samurai, the little boy who grows close to Cruise’s character), he finds a way to present it all that, to me at least, seemed fresh. I wanted to visit this village. More importantly, I believed it really was a village, tucked away in the mountains of 19th Century Japan. Tom Cruise just happened to be staying there.
Finally, for the total geek moment of the film, do you remember the last time you saw a real Ninja attack in a movie? I’m not talking about chop-suey, or ninja turtles, but a real, honest-to-goodness, balls-to-the wall, throwing star Ninja attack. You get that here. In spades. While I somehow doubt that twenty or so Ninjas would be dispatched quite so easily by villagers, even Samurai villagers, there’s still something so badass and visceral about the whole sequence that it’s easily worth the price of admission. My first thought when I saw them was literally, “Dude. Those are NINJAS!” Very cool. I guess in the final analysis, what the filmmakers were shooting for is Tom Cruise’s The Searchers. But what they ended up with was more like True Grit. Not a bad movie, but nothing close to what it’s hyped as.
If you don’t set your sights too high, you’re going to see a flawed film with a subpar screenplay that nonetheless deals with some great thematic ideas, has a couple of wonderful performances, and is absolutely gorgeous to look at. In a season that has already brought us The Crap in the Hat, I think you could do a lot worse.
Okay... not bad. Sounds like he gave it a fair shake.
Hey Harry, Moriarty and fellow geeks,
Here’s my spoiler free review of The Last Samurai…
The first bit is a quick overview I wrote for a forum, and the last bit is my elaboration…
I saw a sneak peak of Tom Cruise's latest, The Last Samurai last night.
The story is pretty straight forward (so if you've seen the preview, you know what you're getting into). It's a well told story, with a good pace etc.
The acting was top notch. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cruise get a Best Actor nomination out of this come Oscar time. But what would really make my day is if Ken Wanatabe gets a nomination for his Samurai leader, Katsamoto. He was really great.
Cinematography was beautiful.
The fight scenes were pretty good, not overtly gory at all, but intense.
The ending had a clunker of a line, and you'll know it.
But I'd send off any of my friends to see it, and I'll be seeing it again in the next month or two in the theaters.
IMHO, Cruise has had a really good streak since 1996 with Mission: Impossible, all the way through to The Last Samurai. Good fun to be had by all.
I really enjoyed the flick overall. I'm not going to get into spoilers etc, since it doesn't even come out until next week.
The sequence with the ninjas was really well done. There was some good humor sprinkled throughout the movie.
Is it Cruise's best performance ever? I'm not sure. I'm still more partial to Jerry Maguire and Magnolia. But he is really good in this flick, and if he happens to win any awards, they are deserved. Not cos he deserves a cleanup award or anything. Maybe this year won't be his time. His character, Nathan Algren is fully realized, and I don't have any real complaints.
But Watanabe, without a doubt, is the soul of this movie. His passion in this movie is on par w/ Cruise's, if not more so. I really enjoyed his character. The way he dealt w/ situations that life dealt, was really cool. You could easily believe Algren's transformation because you believe in Katsamoto. A fine performance, on par with the best I've seen from any actor this year.
As for the love story. It wasn't a big point, but it was there. I think the fact that it was minimal is best. Nothing to get upset over. Handled with grace.
The director, Ed Zwick, has made another solid action movie (in the vein of Glory). He continues to make stuff as realistic as he can, and for that, we are blessed.
There's not much more to add at this time. I loved the movie, and it'll definitely be a DVD to own for me.
That’s it from me.
- Movie theater Guy
Mmmm-hmmmm… and?
Hello Harry. I attended a screening of The Last Samurai last night, and thought I’d share my thoughts. Before I do, I’d like to point out that the movie-going experience here in Los Angeles is getting almost terrible, as the projectionist was almost completely inept (the upper part of the movie wasn’t even in-frame) and it was a struggle to even here the dialog, despite the fact I was sitting in the second-to-front row (yet the 20 minutes of commercials were plenty loud). Of corse, before the movie played, we had to sit through another message from Warner Bros. about how pirates will be prosecuted, blah, blah. Really, this is getting old, and ruining the cinematic experience for those of us who frequently go to the movies.
As for the movie its self, The Last Samurai was a film that I wasn’t expecting a whole lot out of. The trailers did little to impress me, and I figured I would not find much new in this tired genre of war movies. Fortunately, the movie turned out to be quite good. It is being advertised as an epic war movie, when in fact there are only two battles in the entire film (the one where Tom Cruise gets captured, and the one last stand of the samurai at the end. However, while technically impressive, they are very predictable.
But the battles are not where The Last Samurai excels. It is the time spent within the samurai village, where you get to see the traditions of this way of life that will soon become extinct. Thought of by there own people as barbaric rebels with swords and arrows, we are shown that these people are great warriors who do not enjoy killing people, but do so to honor their families, and their country. Some pessimists may find it a bit cheesy, but I really enjoyed it above anything else in the movie.
Tom Cruise does a great job here. Many who have already seen the movie are quick to admit that they couldn’t separate their minds from always being aware that it was "Tom Cruise the superstar" on screen, and not a character. That is their own fault, as Tom completely becomes this character. Despite being small of stature, he tends to command the screen with his sword-fighting capabilities. He doesn’t get to show a whole lot of range here, but he is certainly great. However, it is Ken Watanabe, who plays Katsumoto, the leader of this group of samurai, who for me completely steals this movie. Despite portraying a man who is supposed to not show a lot of emotion, Katsumoto is the most fully developed character in the film. It would be awesome to see Watanabe get nominated to an Oscar, but there’s no way it’ll happen.
Ed Zwick does a fine job with The Last Samurai, but it is cinematographer John Toll who comes away more successful. This movie is absolutely gorgeous to look at, tough some of the slow-motion battle scenes are less inspired. Production designer Lilly Kilvert has also done a great job re-creating the look of this time. I expect Oscar nominations for Toll and Kilvert. Hans Zimmer does a good job with the score, as it is sweeping and emotional. It is not up there with his score for Gladiator though, not by a long-shot.
All in all, I know this movies will be (and has been) labeled as a Dances With Wolves clone, but it really is more than that. It is one of the better movies of the year, and definitely worth the hassles of going to the theater, if only to see the beautiful images on the big screen. Maybe not a classic, but The Last Samurai is highly recommended!
Moviefan
Hmmmm... sorta damned it with faint praise there. Still... it was positive overall. Let’s see what’s next...
I’m currently a film student in L.A. and just took in a preview screening of The Last Samurai at Mann’s Village in Westwood. I felt an obligation to write in because, although reviews have been positive, most of the people I talk to aren’t interested in seeing this based on the trailer. I too felt some hesitation in seeing the film. DO NOT HESITATE. The Last Samurai is a fulfilling and uplifting battle epic that leaves you feeling at peace with the world upon exiting the theater.
Probably the biggest concern I had before attending tonight was Tom Cruise, and whether or not he would be convincing in this role. I certainly wasn’t buying into the posters or trailers. Brad Pitt’s TROY looked so much more kick-ass than this. But Samurai worked on all levels -- the small dramatic level as well as the huge-ass battle level. There are many funny and intimate moments in the film that all work well, and even the smaller battles in the movie have a huge impact, which is a good indicator that the film is firing on all 8 cylinders.
Applause erupted several times throughout the film, and every time they did I found myself smiling with bliss because FINALLY a film this year not only exceeded expectations but KICKED MY ASS in the process. So again, DO NOT HESITATE to throw your 8, 10, or 12 bucks at this film. You’ll leave the theater with a cinematic experience right up there with Braveheart & Dances With Wolves, and I think that’s saying a lot.
Call me C.J. HOLLYWOOD if you please...
C.J.’s a little exuberant there. I suspect many of you will start accusing him of having roots. But, hey, maybe it just hit him right. He didn’t seem to mind the derivative nature of the movie.
Harry-
Surprised you didn't already have some sort of review up on the site for The Last Samurai (or i didn't see one). I was able to catch a sneak preview of it tonight (Saturday) and figured I'd send something in.
Let me start off by saying that I've always liked samurai. Shogun's been on my favorite book list since I picked it up. Their whole way of life was a facinating difference from the traditional western way we all know so well. You are no longer fighting for the man in the trench next to you, you are fighting for your honor and your lord's. A more self-centered egoist view on battle, but its something that made the samurai really kick=ass warriors.
Anyway, enough about that and onto the movie. I guess I'll give a general synopsis and review, with a spoiler one to follow. Basically Tom Cruise plays a war hero (Civil War and, more importantly to his character, the fighting in the Midwest and West that occured between the US Army and the Indians) who's lost his reason to live. He's seen too much war and slaughter and has turned to drink and cynisism. He's asked by the Japanese to come train their army to be a modern fighting force to fight off the "rebels"-Japanese who have remained true to the bushido code and are opposing the modernization of Japan. Cruise begins training and starts making progress, but is ordered to take his army into combat before he feels they are ready. As a result, the samurai route them and Cruise is captured. That much you see in the trailer, so that's as far as I'm gonna go synopsis wise here.
Basically, the beginning of the movie is slow. There's a lot of initial character development that needs to take place, a bit of stage setting and all that, so there's really nothing you can do about it. It's the last two acts of this film that make it truly great and memorable, the epic "Gangs of New York" longed to be but didn't quite achieve. There the action picks up, the pacing is taut, and the direction splendid. Cinemetographically, this film is simply well done-its nothing fancy, but its not shit either.
Cruise manages to hit his alcoholic hero correctly (I've never been the biggest Tom Cruise fan, only truly liking him in Minority Report), lacing him with bits of sarcastic cynisism and moments of actual remorse. You get a true feeling for why Nathan Algren is the broken man he is. His supposed loathing of his commanding officer Colonel Bagley (Tony Goldwyn) never truly comes across aside from the few seconds it's established, however. Cruise drops his lines like they mean something later on in the film, but they never really carry the force they should.
Masato Harada provides an apt villian in his Omura, though slightly over-the-top at times. Just the kind of guy you can learn to hate, which is the point. Trying to still remain spoiler free here, Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) is excellent. His character is a true pleasure to watch on screen, because he's so damn cool. The true blue hero, fighting for what he feels and knows is right for his country and his emperor. Emperor Meiji (Shichinosuke Nakamura) is well done also, wanting to follow his country's traditional ways, yet also being pushed into a modern Japan by his advisors, though he is prehaps the weakest role in the film-aside from the shoehorning in of your typical irish drill sergent, who's treated like an expendable crewman from the shitty Star Trek. He's good for a laugh or two, and to expand on Cruise's ability to be a leader, and then he's killed. The supporting cast here is well done, a blend of serious and fun. There's a Harry-lookin brit who enjoys being a diplomat, and a whole handful of serious samurai that are just cool characters.
And now, spoilers......
OK, this is where the film starts to get good. Cruise is captured and taken to a remote japanese village just in time for winter to start and block the mountain passes that would allow it to be assailable. His battle for his life has convinced Katsumoto to keep him alive in order to learn how the white men fight, to "know my enemy". Cruise learns the ways of bushido and joins the side of Katsumodo, freeing him in Tokyo from imprisonment and seppuku and providing him with battle plans for the final battle. He finds love with the woman he is staying with (props for having the entire romance culminate to a simple brushing of lips-though tits would have been appreciated) and becomes a father to her son (who's father cruise killed). That's as much of a synopsis as I want to give in the spoiler section even-you dont' wanna hear me ramble about the plot (you probably dont' even want to hear me ramble.
The battle scenes are fucking awesome-period. Cruise learns to be pretty badass with his swords, as we learn in a Ninja attack on the village. Every fight scene involves awesome sword choreography, to the point where things are almost happening too fast to absorb them. Even the mock battles Cruise engages in with are excellent displays of swordmanship, emphasizing the film's main theme-Samurai kick ass, you should be one of them.
I guess ultimatly what this film is about is honor, of course. Cruise is a broken man, yet in discovering Bushido he gains his honor back and becomes a true warrior and hero again. The Emperor, wanting a modern Japan that is a force to be reckoned with, abandons the samurai ways with help from the imperialists-losing his honor. He also redeems himself at the end. I'd go as far as saying "The Last Samurai" is on par with "Braveheart", though I'm sure I'll get ripped apart for that in the talkbacks (fuck you all if you do, see the damn movie anyway).
Anyway, enough of my lousy writing...this was a hard review to write. If you use this Harry, call me Toranaga-sama (I figured it was appropriate, lots of shogun similarities in this film anyway). And sorry this is so fucking long.
Toranaga-sama
Man, I’ll tell ya... I’ll go see this because I’ve supported Cruise as an actor since he won me over in THE COLOR OF MONEY and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY. I think he’s got balls in a way that a lot of movie stars don’t. But even the positive reviews here aren’t convincing me. Come on... let’s see another...
Some movies have the unexplainable ability to influence lives, to change the way we think. These movies are the ones that will stick with us, that we will remember. These are the movies we will think of when we make certain decisions in our lives. Admittedly, movies are able to influence fragile minds on a bad way, by glorifying immorality. Of course, the flipside to that is that there are movies that can make us better people. These movies don’t pretend, the people behind them believed wholeheartedly in what they were doing, the story they were telling. These movies are the ones we call great.
I had such high hopes going into this movie. I had heard high praise for it, and everything looked set for a good movie. I have been waiting for this movie for over a year now. Despite what any of those anti-anything-popular assholes say, Tom Cruise is a fine actor. In the past 6 or 7 years, he has only contributed his acting skills to quality productions, with the exception of MI:2. I will see anything that he is in, especially an historical epic called The Last Samurai directed by the man behind Glory, Edward Zwick. I waited patiently for the film to arrive.
The first trailers were shown and I was a bit less than impressed. It looked lifeless, half-assed. I was very uneasy and not as excited as I had been. The advance reviews started to come in, and for the most part they sung high praise and helped to boost my expectations back up. Then I got lucky. They decided to a sneak peek in 500 screens, and Binghamton’s Regal Theater was one of them. I get excited about most any sneak peek. But when it’s a sneak peek of one of my three most anticipated movies of the year, it goes beyond excitement. So just the fact that I was seeing it 6 days before it was actually released raised my expectation bar even higher. It would have been very easy for this movie to fall on its face in the shadow of what I was expecting. But in the end, it exceeded my expectations completely.
The film opens on Captain Nathan Algren; he is drunk, depressed, haunted, and using the last of whatever celebrity appeal he had left over from his Civil War heroics to sell merchandise. An old Army “buddy” comes to him with an offer to go to Japan and train a modernized army to defeat the samurai rebels, led by the honor bound Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe). This is the film’s only distracting flaw, the opening 10 minutes or so. It serves the story and Algren’s character well enough, but it seems they could have done a bit more with it. It sort of felt like the filmmakers just wanted to set up the character and story and get to Japan as quickly as possible. Once they get to Japan, the movie is nearly flawless. The samurai warriors in the first battle capture Algren, and that’s where the real story starts to develop. You all know what happens, he assimilates into the culture and tries to become a part of it. This is always done by using a well-worn path: the protagonist simultaneously falls in love with the culture and a woman within the culture, and also comes to greatly respect its leader. One of my favorite films of all time (we’re talking top 20 here), Dances With Wolves, stuck steadily to that path. But this movie adds a little more.
It adds necessity. It’s an interesting combination of the character’s need to join that culture and his wanting to do it. All I remember is thinking during the movie about how absolutely believable the transformation is in Algren. But there’s also the problem of the people belonging to the culture at hand accepting him. I also found this to be very believable. The movie never forgets about where it has been. Algren’s love interest is in the woman who cares for him (he was badly injured in battle), but it is also the woman of a man he killed in a duel of sorts. Her two sons also know this. The movie never forgets that. The family is bound by honor to do what Katsumoto tells them to do and to do it willingly. But the tension is there in the first two scenes between the lady and the older son (about 10 years old), but it is missing in the younger son, who is innocently oblivious of what is going on around him. These subtle character arcs are all over the story. The writers of the film and Zwick took special care in keeping track of the smallest of characters. There are no background characters in this film; there aren’t any characters that just take up space. They do this by making the smallest of characters exact in their words and actions. The character development is flawless, with everything well drawn out and precise in its meaning. Tom Cruise is the star of the film, but it couldn’t have fared nearly as well without the startlingly powerful performance from Ken Watanabe. Every word, every movement, every look is flawlessly done to accentuate his character. We can plainly see his ferocity, his humor, his warm heartedness, and his honor and pride in a single glance. That is possibly the hardest thing for any actor to do, but Watanabe succeeds fully. His is one of the top performances of the year. He keeps the movie grounded, gives us something besides Algren to truly care about.
The battle scenes in this movie were all outstanding. Sometimes war movies have the problem of being repetitive in their battles. This movie does not have that problem; each battle is distinctly different. There are three main battles, with some action scenes in between. The best action sequence of the movie is easily the best of the year so far in the ninja vs. the samurai battle. They knew they had gone a while without any real action, and needed to kick us in the balls good and hard to help us get ready for more character development. As far as scope is concerned, this is the smallest battle. But Zwick used that his advantage and made it the most personal battle, the most up close. There were no strategies, no battle lines, no generals on a hill commanding. It was fight for your life. All the battles are extremely well done. Zwick proves himself of being the only man to successfully marry Kurosawa-like talent and Hollywood gloss in an epic battle. The final battle scene is like Ran meets Braveheart. Tom Cruise knew his shit for this movie. He fights with a quickness and agility that none of us would have attributed to him before. I think a lot of it was really Cruise fighting, and he didn’t want to be helped out too much by editing. He spent a lot of time in training, and it pays off. With a movie like this, it’s all too easy to speak down to the audience, to preach to them. Thankfully, The Last Samurai avoids this trap. It treats the audience with respect; it doesn’t spell everything out. But most of all, it treats its subject matter with all the respect it deserves, and it deserves quite a bit. While the people that made the film weren’t a part of that culture in life, it’s obvious through the film they had a deep admiration for it, and it came to change them in some way most likely.
And that’s what helped them craft a movie like this. They didn’t want to dishonor the samurai way of life, as cliché and silly as that sounds. Some people will piss on this movie because if the similarities it has to Dances With Wolves. And there are a few thematic similarities, but in the end it is a different movie. This is by far the best big budget movie of the year so far. Hulk, X-2, The Matrix movies, Master and Commander, these were all disappointments. I’m glad there is at least one other big budget epic besides Return of the King this year that is successful on every level. It’s hard to say how content I am with this film without sounding like an utterly pathetic loser. But you all know I’m an utterly pathetic loser anyway so I’ll just come out and say it. This film affected me deeply. It introduced me to a culture I scarcely knew to exist. It brought me to respect that culture, and also to learn from it. Maybe I didn’t really learn anything. It says things about honor and duty that we can all recite in our minds, but maybe never live up to or truly believe in. But it says everything with such elegance that it provides us with an opportunity to not only think about honor and duty, but think about it within ourselves. Maybe it’s just me. In the end this is a film that succeeds on every level. From acting, to writing, to direction, to the music The Last Samurai delivers tenfold.
Okay... now that was clearly articulated and… yeah, I’ll admit it… persuasive. Who’s next?
Hey Harry just got back from a screening of THE LAST SAMURAI here in San Antonio about 30 minutes ago and WOW!
I'm not really paying attn. to much of the grammar or sentences and fragmentation 'cuz I'm really tired. I'll try not to give away any major spoilers so here goes...
There is so much sadness, pain, meaning and questions behind it all. Where do I start?! I'm not too good with reviews or anything but I had to write something about this movie. This isn't just Tom Cruise doing his usual good acting job. No, this is Tom Cruise at his BEST. You feel like Tom is actually his character and I felt that he handled the shift into becoming a Samurai really well especially on screen. In the beginning you are shown how evil the samurai are and as the movie progresses you see how evil WE are. The samurai are too bad ass in this movie. In particular the war scene in the beginning of the movie introduces the samurai in a very dark and evil way and the cinematography compliments it. Personally, it was just awesome. The whole way through I was screaming to go have my very own samurai sword made for myself. The war scene at the end is nothing but straight brutality and sadness. People are just fucking dying. There is no CG crap, there are no camera effects,! there is no nothing. Some guy got a camera and started running around with it in the middle of a real samurai battle. That is how it felt. Remember Kill Bill? The House of Blue Leaves? The Crazy88? Yeah, it's all that and more and makes the gore in Kill Bill seem a lot more comedic (it is still one of my favorite movies, I love you Quinten) The way some of the soldiers got sliced and diced made me cringe. I wanted to cry at the end. I wanted to just stand up and scream. The questions that this movie brought up and the lessons it give are really moving. In the end, I really saw that each of us has a little bit of a samurai in ourselves. What I'm saying really dosen't do this movie justice. It is great in every way. On Friday, go buy tickets, sit down, and WATCH THIS MOVIE!
-kaos
Makes me long for the poetry of a Neill Cumpston review. Next.
Hey, Harry and the rest of the AICN crew...I'm sure that, with the screenings of THE LAST SAMURAI around the country tonight, you'll be getting plenty of reviews in. I just thought I might try and give my perspective of the film. Feel free to trim this review down or anything.
I just went through possibly the worst movie-going experience of my life to catch a screening of THE LAST SAMURAI. Let me just say that United Artists theatres have to be the worst managed theatres in the entire country. Their restrooms are never clean, the trash is always overflowing; and I had to wait in an overly extended line to see TLS. It was overextended because no one knew where to go; therefore, the people who were so desperately waiting to see Gothika and The Cat in the Hat were stuck in line with me. Then, half-way through the film, the actual print of the film "burnt", basically, had a hole tear through it like an acid bubble, as seen in that Nine Inch Nails video "Closer". The screen goes black and then the lights go up. People start to leave, disgruntled. Seven minutes later, the movie goes back on. Why do I tell you all this? Basically, to reccomend that everyone and their mother boycotts United Artists theatres.
On to the showcase: The latest epic period piece starring one of Hollywood's most popular actors. The next in a long line of recent films such as Braveheart, The Patriot, and Gladiator. How does it stand up? Well, I don't really want to compare it to any of those films. Naturally, you will find that The Last Samurai follows many of the same character beats as those other films. There's a certain tried and true formula (call it cliche' if you will) that films of this nature follow and I can't say that TLS deviates all too much. However, what makes this particular movie shine is that way that it spotlights and focuses upon Japanese culture, specifically the code of honor that is so intrinsic to many over there. That's really what makes this film unique and, hopefully, that's what most viewers will take away from this: a newfound appreciation of Japanese culture/history, or an interest in it.
Of course, if you want the clashing of bone and sinew in bloodthirsty battle sequences, you'll get that too. There's essentially three battles here: Tom Cruise's original attack against the samurai, the aforementioned-at-AICN ninja versus samurai battle, and the final battle of soldiers versus samurai which is basically two battles in one. All three of these battles provide plenty of thrills and I imagine that even the most jaded fanboy will be entertained. The bloodletting in this film is top notch and if you crave samurai action, you'll get it. However, I have to say that the ninja versus samurai fight isn't all that it's been hailed as...least of all because it feels terribly out of place with the rest of the movie. The plot is progressing in a steady manner with Tom Cruise adjusting to his new life at the samurai village when - all of a sudden it's like a cutscene from the video game Tenchu: Stealth Assassin with ninjas crawling over rooftops. And then all hell breaks loose. It's entertaining, yes, but an out-of-sync feeling and too many quick cuts directing-wise make it fall short of "one of the best battles ever filmed".
How does Tom Cruise hold up in this film? Surprisingly well. I am not the biggest fan of Cruise by any means, as it often seems like he just plays himself in nearly every movie. Someone once commented, "Tom Cruise has made a career out of not acting." and I wouldn't say that's entirely untrue, except that he does know how to give a good performance, as evidenced by his over-the-top Goth operatics in Interview With a Vampire and the sly teenage antics of Risky Business. Here, Tom shows all the right emotions and actually displays subtlety, especially when during the middle and second half of the film when the focus switches from Cruise to the Japanese way of life. Most of all, Cruise seems sincere and doesn't "mail in" his performance. It's a nice turn for him.
However, the REAL star of this film is Ken Watanabe, who plays the samurai leader. Holy hell. This guy out-acts everyone in the movie and displays such grace and depth in his role. It is a really fantastic role and if there were any justice in this country, he would be nominated Best Supporting Actor this year at least. Honestly, he does a stellar job and his character has the best development, even until the end.
The major problem with this film? The ending. It just was not very satisfying at all, in my opinion. It seemed illogical. If I were to go into why, it'd certainly reveal spoilers. Let's just say that it's almost nonsensical and, in my opinion, not keeping with the theme and tone of the film. It's as if they had a truly deft and hard-hitting ending, then showed it to a test audience, who then complained that it was too sad/down/confusing. So then Warner Brothers went and made them re-shoot a crowd-pleasing, happy conclusion. I just really felt let-down at the end. Also, Cruise's "love interest" in the film just felt a little shallow. There was nothing much to her character and most of the time, she simply gazes with regret at Cruise. That's about it.
In the end, I would reccomend this film to anyone seeking high-octane battle sequences, or anyone interested in Japanese culture. As a fanatic of all things Asian, it was a forgone conclusion that I was going to see this film, regardless of how so/so the trailer made it seem. After viewing it, though, I can confidentally say that it surpassed my expectations and drew me into the world of 19th century Japan for over two hours. The real star of this film is not Tom Cruise but the dying customs and traditions of a nation. However, theirs is a graceful death and this film makes for a rather stirring tribute.
-BUT, I have to throw in a fanboy suggestion...if you *really* want hardcore, violent, gory, and epic battle sequences, then you owe it to yourself to buy MUSA THE WARRIOR, recently released in the United States by Tai Seng. It's a joint effort between China and Korea, with a $40million or so budget, and it features some of the coolest characters and most violent battle sequences ever. Trust me!-
-the Ragin' Gaijin
Ken Watanabe. Looks like he’s the crowd favorite, absolutely.
This is my first time writing to AICN and a long time reader. I hardly ever catch advance screenings of movies, but this time I was lucky enough to catch the new Tom Cruise epic, The Last Samurai.
I'll keep this review as spoiler free as possible. I caught this screening in Seattle, WA. at the Uptown theater. So, it's 6:30PM and the movie is about a half hour away and I'm eating from the bag of M&M's I snuck past the metal detector guys and I'm really wishing I was somewhere else. You see, I didn't think this movie looked good. I thought the trailers were very poorly done. It reminded me of Mission: Impossible 3 I Am A Samurai. I didn't like the fact that the weight of the movie was placed firmly on Tom's shoulders alone. Let me start by saying that the movie is very solid. By solid I mean very good, not great, not mediocre, but just above your average good movie. In keeping with my theme, I'm going to go ahead and say that Cruise gives a very solid performance. I will be very surprised if he gets an Oscar nomination for this movie. To me, it was Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise.&nbs! p; Aside from the first quarter of the movie where he is tortured by his past, once he gets through that, he just becomes bad ass Tom Cruise.
Things I liked:
I seem to be among the few people I know that are big fans Tom Cruise. I really enjoyed him in this movie, even when the whole audience laughed the first time they saw him in a Samurai uniform. I loved the Samurai village. It was great watching Tom live with the Samurai and learn their ways. Ken Watanabe plays Katsumoto and is my favorite actor in the movie. I've never seen him before, but he just kicks so much ass and almost stole the show. I loved the fact that the love portion of the story is very underplayed. Some of the fight scenes were great, most were a bit to erratic and hard to follow though.
Things I didn't like:
There are three things that kept this movie from being a classic, two of which I will reveal here and a third that will be at the end of the review marked *spoiler. You are in this beautiful land surrounded by amazing colors and scenery and yet the movie feels very wooden and dry. The way the movie is shot is so run-of-the-mill. Nothing jumps out at me and really captures my imagination. The second thing I didn't like was the music. Music seems to be playing over the entire film. Even the most meaningless of conversations gets a backing score giving you the impression that it is a much more powerful moment.
All in all, I would recommend to Tom Cruise fans. It was a good time for my friends and I, but free movies are always better. Catch a matinee if you are a bit unsure.
Call me Swimfan.
*spoilers
Okay, the biggest problem with this movie is the ending. I don't care how historically accurate this movie is. I don't believe it. Let me get this straight. A drunk white dude from America is payed tons of dough to teach the Japanese how to fight. He get's captured by the Samurai and lives with them for a year or so. In this time, we are led to believe that he becomes one of the most gifted Samurai. Okay, I'm still on board. After he leaves the Samurai, he goes back to help them fight off the Japanese army. Now, in the end Tom Cruise manages to survive a couple thousand troops, cannons, rifles and an early version of the mini gun. Oh yeah, he's shot a couple times and stabbed a couple times, but come-on, he's Tom Fucking Cruise. Here's the big surprise ending. He really is The Last Samurai. I don't fucking believe it!! This guy learns from the Samurai in a year skipping an entire lifetime of Samurai knowledge and somehow is honored with being The Last Samurai. I don't believe it!! I know it reality that at least one Samurai had to of survived, and if I was that guy, i'd be pissed off. The entire ending was a little to hard to swallow. I'm guessing I would have loved to see Tom dead in the end. It's how these types of movies are supposed to end. With honor.
Overall, it looks like people are really digging this, and I’m sure I’ll see it as soon as I have a free moment. And as soon as I clear a few other films I haven’t seen off my plate. Like 21 GRAMS. And BAD SANTA. And THE MATRIX: REVOLUTIONS. And THE MISSING. And... oh, god, I’m so freakin’ far behind...
"Moriarty" out.
