Epic fable

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2003)

The Last Samurai is a poetic story about redemption, honor, love and the inevitable death of all things. Ed Zwick weaves a simple tale against the romanticized backdrop of late 19th century Japan when the last vestiges of feudal Japan, and its ancient culture, slip away in the face of Western modernization.
The story begins with Capt. Nathan Algren, a cynical whiskey-soaked veteran of the plains wars hawking Winchester rifles to an ignorant audience. The depiction of Western society is vilified to the point of caricature in this film, which I'm not sure was necessary, as the prose of the Samurai culture sings well enough on its own.
We soon learn through various flashbacks that Algren is a soldier who has lost faith in himself and his country but still retains the passionate spirit of a formidable warrior. Spiritually, he is quite dressed up with no place to go.
When he is offered a job as a mercenary to train Japanese Imperial troops, he is thrust into circumstances which forge a destiny that finally fulfills who he really is: a warrior who needs something worthy of fighting for. Though duty may call us to sell our soul, we may yet redeem ourselves if but we find the good fight. Honor best serves that which is honorable, or, perhaps, that which we genuinely love. These things may be enough to define a life of purpose.
The storyline here is not all that clever and is in most respects, quite predictable. It is the journey of Algren's character within the framework of this yarn that is most compelling and is played to a T by Cruise.

This is a film that is definitely worth seeing. Though the plot is a touch thin on the ground, the writing is superb, with moral and spiritual questions explored in a thoughtful manner. The production is mesmerizing and Cruise is well supported by a solid ensemble well directed by Ed Zwick.