A movie that touches like no sappy star-filled, big-budget blockbuster should ever touch

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2004)

It's not always enjoyable. It is a touch too long, a good dollop too sweet, and full of itself.
But it's a truly good movie.
It's a movie that REALLY DOES have something to say. It is finally a movie that doesn't look like to was made to please an abstract target audience.
It's a movie that touches like no sappy star-filled, big-budget blockbuster should ever touch.
It speaks of the horror that is civil war. It speaks of the code of honour and the men who espouse it that has to die so that the country may go on living. And it speaks of the men who understand that, and who go to death willingly.
Yes, Tom Cruise is (fill in blanks depending on whatever you think of him anyway). And photography is (fill in blanks depending on your pretensions). And there are references to (fill in blanks to fit your knowledge of obscure Samurai movies). And there isn't a single sex scene - oh, such a welcome change, that one!
But all that is irrelevant - it is simply a good movie, one that has a moral and delivers it well.