Powerful, emotionally moving with some brutal cracking action

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2004)

The film starts in a standard Cruiser style, with Tom doing Tom and pretending to be drunk and acting a bit mad, but his performance improves all the way through, following the arc of his character as he becomes a changed honourable man. He is also helped by some cleverly done flashbacks, showing the war crimes his character Captain Nathan Algren has committed. This makes the pain he is feeling far more believable than his attempts at drunken rambling. Once in Japan he really catches fire as he starts to immerse himself in Japanese culture.
It is at this point though that we meet the real star of the film, Ken Watanabe playing Samurai chief Katsumoto. He is the heart and soul of the movie, and it is an immensely powerful turn. I can't recall seeing Cruise take a back seat for so much of a film before, but he is put in the shade here. Watanabe is able to use simple facial expressions to take control of scenes and his dialogue is powerfully delivered. When the action comes he is more than up to the task, slashing at ninjas (in perhaps the movies best sequence) as they raid the samurai village and charging lines of rifle wielding troops. He fully conveys the values and coda of the samurai, and it is a performance worthy of awards recognition.
The film itself moves from harsh battle scenes to gentle moments as characters are developed and friendships forged. The growing mutual admiration between Algren and the samurai is well portrayed. Edward Zwick's direction is at times cheesy, but for the most part it is powerful and gets a strong message across, something along the lines of preserving ancient cultures against the tide of growing consumerism, which is certainly relevant in today's climate.
There is one piece of direction I particularly like, when Algren has defeated four opponents, Zwick cuts to Algren replaying it in his mind, shown from a new angle. This finishes with an enemy shown to be still standing as Algren finally finishes him.
There is also some wonderful cinematography of the landscapes and of the epic final battle sequences, as 500 samurai take on the American guns and mortar rounds of the newly formed Japanese army. I thought these were incredibly moving moments, interspersed with some fairly brutal combat. It actually reminded me a bit of the Last of the Mohicans, but raised to another level.
With strong supporting players, there's a decent turn from Timothy Spall as a British expert on Japanese culture as well as numerous Japanese actors filling out the samurai group, The Last Samurai is a very strong package, at times viscerally brutal and honourably emotional. Nine out of Ten!