The Narcissist

Rating: 3/10 (23 July 2006)

I didn't expect anything from this to be at the level of Kurosawa. In fact this has no style of its own at all...it's all about reassembling pieces of other movies into a stage for Cruise to strut and fret on. They include Zwick's own "Glory", Frankenheimer's "The Challenge", & Lawton's "The Hunted".
You see, Cruise is out to prove he can handle the big budget epic, specifically through topping the physicality of Crowe in "Gladiator" or "Proof of Life", or Gibson's "Braveheart". And that he can top his own "Mission Impossibles".
The most frequent comparison is with "Dances with Wolves", but the similarities are actually quite faint. "Dances..." stuck to simple, no-nonsense storytelling; its visual structure was that of a horizontal canvas. This has nothing of interest in terms of perspective (it tries to build vertically, but weakly); and it's loaded with all sorts of post-"Dances" clichés -- the worst being the pathetic attempts to tap into the 'spirit' of a native people. Cruise comes across as though he's pitching for Honda Motor Co.
I know Cruise is not interested in art; he hasn't been for at least 20 years, since "Top Gun" showed us all he would ever really be as a leading man. He has only one objective for every production he invests in - that elusive golden statue.
But I am interested in art, not stardom. And if you share my appreciation of the visual master who gave us "Seven Samurai" and "Ran", you'll be equally insulted by Cruise's vainglorious exercise in egotism.