The Last Samurai Rating: Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Ken Watanabe Tom Cruise Billy Connolly Tony Goldwyn Complete Cast (6 total)

The Last Samurai Reviews

---

When should Tom Cruise get an Oscar nomination and wins it ?
When should Tom Cruise get an Oscar nomination and wins it ? I'm not a serious Cruise's fan, but I like his work and he works hard for his roles as many A-list actors do. Again, he should be nominated for best actor Oscar for his role in the Last Samurai. It has some of the modern themes of regional and global
superpowers dominations and attemp to change the inner cultures of other nations for the sake of self-centered interests and for the love of control. You'll find those elements somtimes hidden within the storytelling. The battle sequences are very well
performed yet they need to be longer in duration. The movie is visually stunning.
It is a very good movie to watch, and certainly one of the 2003
best movies.

Katsumoto is the King
It's 1876. Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) has been sent to Japan in order to help the Imperial Japanese Army become more 'modern' and less 'traditional' and ultimately prepare them to fight the legendary Samurai. Events occur that cause Tom Cruise to be a captive of the deadly but extremely polite Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) who is the leader of the Japanese Samurai. At this point, the viewer begins to learn why the Samurai are fighting to preserve their way of life against Western influences and Cruise's character becomes emotionally bound to them and he integrates himself into their society after working hard to earn their trust. However, the film is not solely about the struggle for the Samurai to keep their way of life, another subplot includes the low key and shy love relationship between Algren and Taka, a quiet widow (played with subtlety by Koyuki). Though it isn't a big part in the film, it highlights the emotional aspect of the film and shows that this is not a film about swords.

Positive Points:
In my view, Cruise has been a decent actor with fluctuating performances but in this current effort, he has shown that he is improving and learning how to adapt to different styles of acting. He plays the tormented captain with surprising intelligence and conviction. I was very impressed to see him speaking Japanese - I loved the way this film mixed both English and Japanese toghether because it gave it a strong edge. However, The real star of this film is Ken Watanabe (Tom who?). He played Katsumoto with such a commanding and intense presence that it was hard to concentrate on Cruise or any other actor in the film. Without doubt deserves the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Special mention should go to Koyuki and Ujio (played by Hiroyuki Sanada). As supporting roles, they both acted convincingly without saying much but succeeded in showing that there are many more interesting characters besides Algren and Katsumoto.

Great music score by Hans Zimmer and fantastic costume design that will not doubt trigger a trend in Samurai-influenced clothes.

Negative points: While the film was entertaining, it focused too much on Cruise. The supporting characters were great too and people like Taka and Ujio should have had more developed personalities.

What is Billy Connolly doing in this film? A Scottish man impersonating an Irish man? You didn't fool me Braveheart!

But negativities cast aside, 'The Last Samurai' is an enjoyable, violent but immersing cinematic effort that shouldn't be missed if you are interested in Japan, a Cruise fan or if you just love historical dramas.

More Customer Reviews (3 total)