Acceptable but not great

Rating: 6/10 (5 April 2014)

It is 1876. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is a returning veteran after slaughtering indians. He is haunted by his past, and is now a suicidal drunk hocking guns for the manufacturer. Then he is hired by the Emperor of Japan to train his troops to fight renegade samurai who opposes modernity. He is forced to send his men to battle before they are ready. Then he is taken prisoner by Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe).
Drunk acting is arguably one of the most difficult, and Tom Cruise doesn't do it well. He overacts. One can see his acting rather than inhabiting the role. Once he is taken prisoner, the movie moves along too slowly. There is a little too much simplification. Too many minds may be the better option. However, one cannot deny the beauty of this movie. If you're looking for semi-realistic battles between samurai and ninja or samurai and civil war era soldiers. This definitely has that going for it. However there is something wrong with who the last samurai is. There is something off-putting about this movie.