Without question one of the greatest movies I've ever seen.

Rating: 10/10 (27 April 2014)

The 2003 film 'The Last Samurai' is such a great but overlooked and underrated movie. I don't remember hearing much about it when it came out (maybe because I was only 13), but decided to check it out one night from Hollywood Video. After watching it, I can honestly say I have never been so emotionally connected to a movie in my life. I immediately decided I was going to spend the $20 to buy it, and watched it probably close to 20 times over the next 2 years. 10 years later it still remains one of my favorite movies of all time.
The movie follows Captain Nathan Algren, an Indian War survivor who has become an alcoholic and theater actor in an attempt to forget slaughtering the innocent Indian tribes he was ordered to during the war. He receives a visit from an old friend with a job opportunity: train Japanese peasants to soldier in order to stop the Samurai rebellion in Japan. He accepts and we now have our character journey.
The basic story is one you've seen before, and more than once. A soldier on one army joins/gets captured by the other side, and through spending time with the enemy, ends up pledging to their cause. The Last Samurai uses this formula, but makes it believable and real. While watching the movie, you understand why the appeal of the Samurai are more than that of his own army, and you believe that for the first time in his life he's willing to die for something he believes in.
While the story is unoriginal, the characters are what drives this movie. It is very much a character movie, and when something unfortunate happens to one, you empathize with them. Tom Cruise gives an Oscar worthy performance as the lead, but as far as standouts go, Ken Watanabe owns this movie with his performance as Katsumoto. He puts so much into being a tribal leader willing to die for what he believes in, and you buy it completely. Honestly one of the best performances I've ever seen, without question one of my favorites. The movie is worth watching based on Watanabe's performance alone.
The supporting cast is just as great too. Everyone from Katsumoto's sister Taka, who has to take care of Algren when he had unknowingly done something terrible to her family, to his son Nobutada, to the American and Japanese generals, everyone does their part to make the characters real and believable. You also feel an emotional tie with all the characters, which is a credit to the acting as well as the writing. Definitely have to give credit to the writers here, they may not have followed history perfectly, but they gave quite a few characters with some serious depth to them, and I felt such a strong emotional tie with them.
One final element of greatness to this movie was the score by Hans Zimmer. Easily one of the greatest composers in Hollywood with credentials like The Dark Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lion King, and Inception to name a few, I personally think this might be his best work. Very few soundtracks do I listen to after the movie is over, and this is one of them. The score fits the movie perfectly and does nothing but enhance the performances and ties you feel with the characters. It's such a beautiful and yet somber score, that you can't help but listen to it and almost cry at the same time. I'm listening to it on repeat as I write this now because it's that breathtaking.
As I mentioned, I first saw this movie when it came out on DVD in 2004 and watched it numerous times over the next couple years. It's been at least 6 or 7 since I've watched it, so I decided to buy it on Blu-ray and give it a re-watch. The re-watch reaffirmed why this movie is still in my top 5 favorites of all time, a list shared with The Dark Knight, The Prestige, The Return of the King, and Inception. For me, a great movie is not defined by spectacle, it's defined by story and characters. Spectacle should add to a movie, not define it. And that's how I feel about all these movies. They are all strongly built on characters, and it's those movies that give the emotional ties. Out of all of them, this one and The Return of the King probably have had the biggest emotional effect on me, they're 2 movies that I am very likely to tear up during.
In closing, there's not enough good things I can say about this movie. Obviously everyone's different and some will like the film more than others, but I do believe the story is strong and the characters are great enough that most people will enjoy this movie on some level. It just so happens that for me it struck all the right nerves, which is why I rate it so highly and love it so much. I definitely can't call it a 'feel good movie' and it is fairly long (about 2 and a half hours) and draining as well. But it is without question worth watching and in my opinion, worth many re-watches. A truly rare gem that never got the recognition it deserves. 10/10.