The Karate Kid Is More Believable -- And More Respectful!

Rating: 2/10 (4 January 2020)

A good looking American boy goes to Japan, becomes a Samurai, and teaches the Japanese people the true meaning of Christmas.
I want to review this movie in a way that does more than take cheap shots at Tom Cruise, so I'd like to compare it to three or four other films that cover similar themes with a lot more success.
DANCES WITH WOLVES was about an American Civil War officer who becomes disgusted with war and violence and falls in love with people of a different culture. Not all of it was realistic, and parts were very slow, but Kevin Costner put across the gentleness, kindness, and curiosity of the main character in every scene. Tom Cruise can't do that. He comes across like he does in all his movies -- like he's some cocky frat boy cooking up a prank that will get him in good with his buddies. In this case his buddies are the samurai. Lucky them!
BRAVEHEART is a movie about a brave people being oppressed by cruel foreign invaders who outnumber them, until one hero sacrifices everything in the name of freedom. The difference is that Mel Gibson is playing William Wallace, an actual Scot who is a first hand victim of the English. He's not some cute guy who stumbles along and decides it might be fun to switch sides. The epic battles in THE LAST SAMURAI really copy BRAVEHEART, right down to the slow motion, the sad music, and the endless bloodshed. But in Braveheart you can believe the main character has something to lose. Not so in The Last Samurai.
THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON is an old, black and white movie with Errol Flynn about General Custer being wiped out at Little Big Horn. It's quite different from the Last Samurai, but it ends with a huge battle where everyone dies. The reason I bring it up is just to discuss technique. In the old days, film makers knew how to shoot big battles so they looked fast and exciting, even when characters we loved were dying. There's no slow motion in this old movie. Just about every character dies, and they die fast and hard, yet they still have time to say something that makes you remember who they are. California Joe says "looks like I ain't never . . . getting . . . to Californee." And then he dies. Sharp says, "Maybe you were right about glory, Custer." it's not a big thing, but the emotion is there and it's real.
That is exactly what is missing from THE LAST SAMURAI.