The Perfect Re-Tread

Rating: 7/10 (21 June 2004)

Odd film. Great acting, beautiful scenery, costumes, and photography. Lots of gory action and a powerful soundtrack. Macho themes of honor, combat, heroism, revenge, etc., through the whole thing. And not a single original frame in over two hours of movie film. It was a combination of "Dances with Wolves, "Crouching Tiger," "The Seven Samurai," and (a bit of) "The Natural." It also included some material from an obscure little movie called "The Challenge," about a has-been boxer who gets sucked into a battle between a wealthy Japanese man and his brother who runs a traditionalist monastery/karate school over a samurai sword. Beyond all the stolen concepts, it reiterates the tired theme of a backward, feudal society becoming the equivalent of a giant chessboard for white Western men to use in settling some personal disputes as they "gift" the locals with their (obviously superior) knowledge of things like how to kill each other. I was awestruck by the artistry of it, and dumbstruck by the banality of it (since it was an Oscar nominee). If you haven't yet seen it, I'd say you should, but be ready to hear yourself asking, "But wouldn't he be dead by _now_?" over and over.