The Late 19th Century Is Not Suitable For Samurai Epic

Rating: 5/10 (29 July 2004)

This samurai epic made by American filmmakers realizes an exotic fantasy towards Middle-Ages Japan for some people from the West and an idea of multiculturalism for everyone else, but a late-19th-century setting weakens the film's backbone. While the setting is a necessary excuse for the filmmakers because that was the time when an American could go to Japan and be a part of a guerrilla samurai group, it is apparently not suitable to portray samurai positively, when they are the obsolete people who cannot adapt themselves to the changes. With the emperor clearly pictured as a puppet of the new government, the motivation of Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) to support him and resist the government is unclear and maybe historically inaccurate; throughout the Middle Ages, the nation of Japan had been ruled by a samurai government that also used the emperor as a figurehead.
Technical note: Montages are overused; almost all scenes are established by them.