A fantastic movie that combines all the best elements of movie making!

Rating: 9/10 (27 March 2004)

People say this is a Dances Will Wolves copy, what is that about, the movie is obviously inspired by it, but from there the movie is different, even though it draws references to en earlier masterpiece, how is it that wrong, i do not see, there are many movies that has been inspired by story lines from earlier movies and still been good, well never the less, this one is just as good as its inspiration, if not better.
Tom Cruise in the movie play a morally troubled man who is troubled by earlier times, he has become a drunk living with his past on his heart, he is then sent to Japan to train the Emperor's army to fight against the last Samurais, the pressure from above forces them into a battle they are not ready for, the weak army leaves Cruise stranded and he is captured because the leader of the Samurai, Katsamuto (Watanobe) wants to learn about his enemy. From there the movie pretty much talks for itself, the movie has a lot of difference great moments, moments of humour, moments of romance (without sex involved, i'm amazed, a hollywood movie without sex scenes), and moments of drama.
I was very stunned by this movie, in my opinion it posseses everything a good movie should have, it have drama, romance, moral and action. It's a classic well constructed epic a like movie, and i love epic, honestly, pretty much written after the classic style, but it's so damn nicely directed, clever directing supported by beautiful and engaging Cinematography and a, at times, dramatic, at other times, silent yet beautiful soundtrack.
As for the acting, it's well done too, Cruise and Watanobe is doing an amazing job, and another thing i like is that they are true to the language of the natives, they are realistic, talking japanese, combined by english, that also makes for some funny scenes that can make you smile a bit on top of the tragetic layout the movie has, Cruise is actually talking japanese well, i was so surprised, i liked him before as an actor, but now he has showed me and the whole world that he is also a good characteristic actor, maybe his actor is not to many years away.
Also i found that the movie had a lot of nice, and for once, obvious symbolic values, the movie was faithfull to the way it portrayed the samurais, as people who puts honor and discipline at a high status, especially honor was well displayed when the Samurai with the long hair (Don't remember his name), who gave Cruise a hard time in the start, got shot, when the other Samurai's wants to help him on his feets, he pushes them away and stands up for himself, i don't know what it was about this scene that was so engaging, but i just simply thought it was great, one of the characters who you maybe disliked a little because he was such a cruel guy, you suddenly have sympathy for.
I was constantly thinking that this movie had to be like Master And Commander (Which i gave 7 and found a tad confusing and meaningless), but but after watching this i was stunned and had no idea how i would describe it, i barely ever give 10 to a movie, but i think this one deserves it, even though it has taken a bit of critism from reviewers and other movie goers, i can't deny what i think is the proper solution hehe, stunning movie.
10/10