Dances With Braveheart

Rating: Null/10 (15 December 2003)

Delete Kevin Costner, replace with Tom Cruise. Replace all the Sioux Indians the Japanese Samurai, and during the fight scenes, replace William Wallace and the kilts of Braveheart with Samurai garb and some wool uniforms and we have ourselves Dances with Braveheart in Japan. There was even the underlying forbidden love story of the stranger befriending the widow of a fallen soldier (DWW and Stand with a fist vs. Taka and Cruise) ... and the stranger (Costner/Cruise) is the enemy that befriends then fights along side the opposition fighting for their cause.
Though this movie was very familiar and therefore disappointing, I was impressed with the notion of dying a good death, a proud 'til the last man' battle, but that still doesn't dismiss the fact that the plot was just set in Japan with the japanese traditional warrior.
We've also seen Tom Cruise play this role before. Remember when he's sobering up and has the worst night of his life in Taka's house? Ok, think back to when he was beaten to a pulp in the boxing fight and left for dead in the street during winter in Far and Away. We've seen him writhing around on the floor in agony and covered in blood (or in this movie sweat). Come on, this was a dramatic movie, but Tom doesn't really sell us on the dramatic ROLE, per se. The love interest Taka had good emotion but it was hard to read what she was thinking in the "wear my husband's armor to honor the family" scene. You get it, but was there really enough in her body language if it hadn't been for the romantic climactic music in the background?
In short, if you have seen and know Dances With Wolves and Braveheart, you've already seen this movie. Spend the 8 dollars if you want to, or if there is Oscar buzz, but I don't see the luster of Oscar performance in this movie. Just rent it when it comes out on video. Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE Tom Cruise fan, but this just doesn't cut it. Now, if i could only get back my copy of Top Gun so I can remember why I love Tom to begin with.