It fitted my expectations

Rating: 7/10 (3 June 2005)

The first time I've seen this movie is now almost a year and a half ago. I saw it in a theater with a friend. I probably wouldn't go see it if it weren't for the buzz that it received on this website. At the end the outcome was a lot like I expected it to be. No I was certainly not disappointed but comments like "absolutely perfect" or "flawless" would not likely come out of my mouth.
The Last Samurai is a rather "hollywoodized" representation of the changes in Japan that took place in the second half of the 19th century. The first half of the film I thought that a more detailed depiction of the "leap" to a more modern Japanese society will be neglected. Later on we see that the samurai were also an important part of the Japanese society at that time and that they were not entirely excluded in participating at important discussions.
What I also mean by "hollywoodized" in this film is the exposure of the samurai lifestyle and the relationship between Nathan Algren (Cruise) and the samurai. I think that is the most important part of the film. I found Cruise's convalescence, his view and his adaption to the new lifestyle rather clichéd and stereotypical. I thought I've seen it all before.
You can call me petty but I think the films biggest plus are the battle-scenes. They were carried out with a lot of attention to the viewer and everything about them was amazing from sound to costumes. I will remember this film particularly because of that. I saw the movie again three days ago on DVD and I realized that I forgot most of the dialog and the content. I even found them more clichéd and ordinary than before. But I still thought that the battle-scenes were amazing or even more amazing than I did before.
....... - 4/5 .......