Better than I thought it would be

Rating: 8/10 (30 May 2004)

I am not a big fan of Tom Cruise, other than A Few Good Men. He was pretty good in this movie, although my choice for best actor in this movie would be Watanabe.
I generally liked the plot, in which Cruise as a war hero has painful misgivings about his role in senseless battles killing innocent American Indians. His character goes through a coming of age sub-plot, when he finally has a chance to redeem himself by choosing a path of righteousness rather than blindly following orders.
I liked the first half of the movie better than the second half, which became a bit unglued (in my opinion). For example, Cruise is escorted and given safe passage back into town. Then both Katsumoto and his son (in separate scenes) come waltzing into town and, although not greeted warmly, are generally given the freedom to roam. It seems that since they had both been hunted throughout the movie, that they would have been killed on sight. Just seemed odd to me given the violent encounters earlier in the film.
My favorite part of the film is Algren's stay with the Samurai's. It overshadows almost everything before and after. The closing battle is OK, but is pretty much a remake of the battle scenes in every epic movie (i.e., Braveheart, The Patriot, Spartacus, Gettysburg, on and on...), with the only thing left for the viewer is to guess who would come out on top.
The ending is fairly rewarding, showing that Katsumoto's sacrifice had meaning. I did find it rather cheesy when in the end, the narrator said something like "nobody ever knew what happened to Captain Algren" then they proceeded to show an ending where Algren ended up with his love interest. I would think they need to do one or the other, not both.
Given my peevish quibbles, I really liked the movie and recommend it highly. It has a thought provoking plot, great scenery, and good acting (especially the Japanese characters).