Entertainment vs. Politically Correct

Rating: 4/10 (24 February 2004)

Being Amerasian and feeling a responsibility to support other Asian actors, I forced myself to go to The Last Samurai. Before I did I was weary to the idea that a movie, based completely around the world of truth, was also toting fictional characters along to "pacify" the average American public. Tom Cruise's character (reminiscent of Brad Pitt in Seven Years in Tibet)was an unnecessary additive because Hollywood seems to think that the only way to tell the story of such an "exotic" culture as the Japanese is to see it through the eyes of a Westerner. The true story of the Samurai is amazing enough without being adulterated with Western influence. PC aside, Cruise's character was flat and obvious. We don't doubt his commitment to the Samurai even before the movie really begins because that's the kind of movie we're expecting. Good guys are always good, bad guys are always bad. The dialogue was cliché, especially the closing arguments. The only thing beautiful about this movie was the cinematography and Watanabe's performance.