Could've been a masterpiece.

Rating: 7/10 (2 September 2019)

Edward Zwick's "The Last Samurai" (2003) aspires to revive the Japanese epics of the 1950s. It also follows already successful formulas - that of Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" (2000) and Kevin Costner's "Dances With Wolves" (1990) - but it doesn't live up to neither of the two.
What I specifically wanted to point out was the great potential this film had. Good storyline, interesting characters, and astonishing cinematography. But it eventually fell prey to commercialism, as well as rushed photography and post-production processes.
I'd like to begin with the well-done aspects of this film - the cinematography and the theme. The sets were simply sublime. They could've done so much more with them. The theme is that of old-values-versus-modern-attributes, perfectly suited for the period in which the film is set.
Now, the weaknesses of this film - that could've easily been avoided. First of all, they ruined the stunning cinematography with horrendous framing. I prefer to blame this on the limited time they granted the photography process rather than on the director's abilities. Another technical mistake they made was almost always playing the soundtrack. Don't get me wrong, Hans Zimmer did an incredible job crafting the wonderful piece of music for this picture, but it was heavily overused. It suited some of the scenes, but others would've been greater without the accompaniment of a soundtrack.
At 154 minutes of runtime, I didn't get to know the characters I was supposed to care for, therefore the final battle didn't feel as dramatic to me. There needed to be more time granted the characters, their backstories, and their motives.
And lastly, the casting choice of Timothy Spall didn't enhance him nor the film. Don't get me wrong, he's pretty good in his field of work - comedies, fantasy or overall strange films - but he doesn't benefit such a serious picture as this one.
In conclusion, this motion picture shows us what differentiates a masterpiece from just a good movie - it's the little mistakes the average audience person doesn't mind, or detect, for that matter. I believe this movie must be shown in film universities because there are mistakes that aspiring filmmakers can learn from.
My rating: 7.1/10