Zwick, Cruise, Ken Watanabe and John Toll Give us an incredible experience

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2004)

Edward Zwick, the director who gave us the film Glory back in 1989, has in my opinion not quite been able to live up to his capabilities since that film. Films like Courage Under Fire and Legends of the Fall were good films but severely flawed at times. Finally, as director of The Last Samurai, he has given us the film we've been waiting for from him for over ten long years.
Zwick along with writers John Logan and Marshall Herkovitz, have given us two extremely complex characters. Tom Cruise portrays Nathan Algren and Ken Watanabe portrays his adversary Katsumoto. Cruise is one of those actors that seems never to get the credit that he deserves. It is the same bit of silly business applied to Paul Newman for many years. His looks and stardom seemed to have deterred and distracted some film goers and critics from understanding the depth of his acting prowess for years. Much of the same can be said when some critics write now about Cruise. With films on his resume such as Minority Reports, Vanilla Sky, Jerry Maguire and Born on the Fourth of July, Cruise has shown himself to be consistently an actor who is willing to not only take chances but to bring depth to all his roles. As Nathan Algren he continues in that mold. Algren is a man tormented by yet resigned to his profession. He is continually haunted by visions of Indian women and children being slaughtered, yet we are never sure if he feels any particular remorse. He uses alcohol to numb himself against the demons he is carrying yet he again sells his services as a mercenary to a Japanese country that is quickly modernizing itself. His job is to help arm and train a Japanese army and assist them in wiping out a Samurai uprising. In essence, the same thing he has always done and seems resigned to do till he meets his end.
The leader of the Samurai is Katsumoto. He is willing to fight to the death to uphold the traditions of the life he knows much in the same way the American Indians fought. He fights for the emperor yet it is the emperor who will send an army out to destroy Katsumoto and his warriors. When Algren is forced to lead his rag tag army into battle against the Samurai before they are obviously ready, his men are quickly defeated. Algren, however, continues to battle to the very end. Just before Algren is ready to be killed, Katsumoto impressed by the fierceness with which Algren fights, instead takes him prisoner so that he may understand his enemy.
As they learn about each other, we too begin to understand the complexity of these two men and the paths they have chosen. Ken Watanabe brings Katsumoto to life with such precision and depth, he is able to give us not only an understanding of the Samurai, but makes us admire a world totally different from our own and to sympathize with his cause.

There is a love story in this film, but unlike most films it is played out beneath the surface. We know it is there but it is never directly spoken of and simmers continually beneath the surface. Many a director would not have been able to resist the temptation to play this out as a full blown romance, but Zwick admirably keeps things in check thanks in large part to Koyuki. Koyuki plays Taka, in such a reserved quiet performance that we at no time can doubt her sincerity. There are issues between Algren and Taka, but you'll have to see the film as I'm not one to give away every little plot development.
If one wanted to take a lesson in how to stage and film a battle sequence Zwick gives it here. Many battles in film today are stage and film with the emphasis being on confusion. Zwick goes in the other direction and it pays great dividends. John Toll, above all else, with New Zealand passing for Japan, has photographed a world of richness, beauty and grace that alone is worth the price of a movie ticket.
If you are one of the many film goers who found it necessary to rush out to see Return of the King and having done that are looking for something else to view during the rest of the winter, you can't go wrong with this film. I highly highly recommend it.
My Grade: A+