Film has a Samurai heart and spirit

Rating: 7/10 (14 December 2003)

This is a film that takes a good hard look at how Japan was starting to change with its business deals with western civilization but the Samurai were still committed to the old ways of Japanese culture. This story is about a former Civil War captain named Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) who is an alcoholic and haunted by the memories of all the killing that was done during his tour of duty. Algren is offered a job in Japan to help train Japanese soldiers how to fight with modern weapons like guns and cannons. He arrives in Japan and starts to help train the soldiers but they are eons away from being ready to go into battle with the Samurai. Algren is told to lead them into a fight even though he knows they are not ready and after a very bloody fight where his army is nearly wiped out Algren is wounded and when a Samurai warrior is about to finish him off Algren kills him. Algren's life is spared when the leader Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) decides to bring him back to their village so that he can learn more about his enemy. Katsumoto and the Samurai are at war with the Japanese that want to change Japan into a more modern country that has trade deals with the Western culture. Emperor Meiji (Shichinosuke Nakamura) is young and envies the pride and traditions of the Samurai but he also wants to do what is best for his people so he is in the middle between the two armies.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Algren spends months living in the village among the Samurai and at first he is quiet but slowly he learns to respect them and their way of life. He is forced to live with Taka (Koyuki) who is the widow of the warrior that he killed and this makes him reflect on his own actions as a soldier. Algren learns to speak Japanese and how to fight with a Samurai sword. During the course of time there is mutual respect between the two and after Katsumoto is taken prisoner by the other side and about to be killed Algren decides to help him escape and fight with him in a final bloody battle.
This film is directed by Edward Zwick who also made the very good "Glory" and he knows about making films about characters that are questioning their own motives with war as a backdrop. The cinematography is important when your making a film as epic looking as this and Zwick hired the great John Toll who also shot "Braveheart" and "The Thin Red Line". There are several glorious shots and the battle scenes are extremely well angled with shots from the more fierce infighting to the long shots of a whole landscape of warriors. Cruise is good as Algren but not for a moment did I forget that I was watching one of the biggest movie stars in the world. His conviction to the role is admirable but this is nowhere near as good a performance as "Born on the Fourth of July". The best performance in the film comes from Ken Watanabe as Katsumoto and he shows both martial arts skill in the action scenes and screen charisma in the quieter moments. Koyuki as Cruise's love interest is a real beauty and she has natural screen appeal. She shows grace and poise and her understated role is effective. The script does a good job of showing how the Japanese were at odds with themselves as times were changing and the Samurai ideals were looked at as being antiquated. After a very bloody battle the film has a more Hollywood style ending and I do believe that this hurts the impact of the film. It has to do with the character by Cruise and with a more independent minded script this would have been even better I believe. This film still is very impressive looking and it does possess a lot of heart and spirit.