Good action flick

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2004)

A great action adventure in a setting that hasn't been too overworked by Hollwood before  the final days of the legendary Samurai Warriors. Cruise plays the American hero of General Custer's time, recruited to Japan to help the government defeat the Samurai, but he learns to value the values of the Samurai. There is nothing very Japanese about the feel of the movie  it seems firmly like a Hollywood recreation put together to glorify Cruise's strengths and set in historical Japan  but Cruise puts plenty of work into the part with a performance to be proud of. And historical tosh as might it be (the Samurai were not really as noble as they are portrayed)  it does present the legend quite well, and the legend and the values retrospectively attributed to the Samurai are in some ways more important and interesting perhaps than any reality.