Tom's better movies; definitely a must-have in your collection

Rating: 8/10 (31 March 2006)

Tom plays Nathan; a somewhat fearless, ignorant soldier who is asked to train a Japanese army to go to battle against the Samurai. He agrees, but the Samurai are closing in on them too fast and against Nathan's will they get ready to battle with the Samurai. They're doomed to lose and the Samurai capture Nathan. Nathan grows to respect and admire the Samurai, which is what the movie boils down to.
There are hints of romance and Nathan's problems with sleeping in the movie, but the latter just disturbs the movie IMO. Tom makes the movie believable, but with good help from Ken Watanabe (Katsumuto). It has a serious tone throughout the whole movie. With a movie like this it is probably hard to make a great ending..it has been done, but not here though. Definitely worth watching, preferably at night when you are doing nothing else.