SAKI!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating: Null/10 (27 December 2003)

Every year a crop of prestige pictures get dumped out of the major studios in Hollywood. Every one of these large scale epics is full of wild battles, romance, outstanding performances, and the cream of the crop celebrities. These are the films that are especially created to win the coveted Academy Awards. The problem is every year one film is so big, so bloated, and so prestigious it turns into a silly mess. This year's film is EDWARD ZWICK'S THE LAST SAMURAI. A fun action film that longs to be SCHINDLER'S LIST.
The Last Samurai stars Tom Cruise (Vanilla Sky) as Captain Algern, a soldier who stood with General Custer as he made his famous last stand. While in battle he is forced to kill innocent Native American women and children, and it eats away at his soul. Turning him to drink.
When his old associates give him a job training Japanese soldiers to fight against a Samurai warrior named Katsumoto (Ken Wantanabe, T.R.Y.). Everything seems okay. That is until he's captured by Katsumoto and begins to learn the law of the Samurai.
THE LAST SAMURAI at it's best boasts some of the most breathtaking close up battle scenes I've seen in a long time. I could hardly believe that for once I could follow the battles, because for the first time in a long time the camera stayed pretty steady. It simply wasn't sound effects and shaky steady cams moving around. It was real, and true battle choreography. Now that made me smile.
I also loved the scene in which Algern battles a group of overzealous Japanese soldiers who are attacking his friend. The scene actually works and is a rare sight. A modern fight scene that doesn't feature wire effects or CGI. It reminded me of old Bruce Lee movies. A scene that was about a fight and not about special effects creating it.
SAMURAI also features a nice relationship between Algern and Katsumoto. Enemies that become friends, Wantanabe's character is strong because it feels real. Unlike SONNY CHIBA's silly turn as the proverb spouting sword dealer in KILL BILL. Wantanabe exudes the feeling of a real Samurai and not of a silly Kung Fu movie reject. I loved how he could embody this man who is torn between his country and his king.
SAMURAIS real flaw is that it thinks it's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE SEVEN SAMURAI, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, and DANCES WITH WOLVES, when it's really just a fun battle movie. It takes itself far too seriously. You watch it with this feeling that at any moment you'll see a graphic pop on the screen that says `FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION.'
It also gets the award for the silliest and most melodramatic thing screamed by an actor in peril in 2003. Algern is going through alcohol withdrawal and screams `SAKI' at the top of his lungs. I was sitting next to my brother-in-law, and every time the film hit another stupidly melodramatic moment I would whisper `Saki!!' It kept me entertained.
I was also aghast that in front of me a small boy no more than five was sitting there. There is a pretty gruesome scene in which a man loses his head. Never have a felt so badly for a little child than I did when he screamed out in terror and then latched onto his mothers shoulder. LISTEN PARENTS OF THE WORLD, THE RATING SYSTEM WAS DESIGNED SO THAT THIS KIND OF THING DOESN'T HAPPEN. YOU WANT TO WATCH AN R-RATED MOVIE RENT IT AT YOUR LEISURE. DON'T BRING A FIVE YEAR OLD TO THE MOVIES TO WATCH IT. (Calming Down) Thank you!
THE LAST SAMURAI is a mixed bag. On one hand its breathtaking to watch and on the other its kinda of silly. I'm going to recommend it to those whom like really cool battle sequences. But for the rest of you why not give THE SEVEN SAMURAI or even BRAVHEART a chance. They are far better films.