Edward Zwich paints a fantastic and amazing film on a nearly flawless canvas.

Rating: Null/10 (16 December 2003)

The Last Samurai tells the story of a soldier who has turned to a
life at the bottom of a bottle. After finding work training the troops
of Japan he finds himself living among the ranks of the samurai.
The samurai live by a code and their honor and dignity takes
priority over everything else. Algren comes to respect their ways
and soon starts to see their ideals as a more plausible cause
then the side he has been fighting with since the start.
Now I must admit how skeptical I was entering the movie theatre.
Tom Cruise has not been very impressive lately and Zwick had not
been behind the camera since his fiasco with the awful film "The
Siege". However this was familiar ground for Zwick with such
films as Glory and Courage Under Fire. So i gave him the benefit
of the doubt and I sat down.
I must say Mr. Cruise did not dissapoint. He turns in the most
intense and emotional performance he has given since, in my
opinion, Born on the Fourth of July. He molds a character who we
come to respect and understand despite his crude and often
obnoxious actions. He slowly transforms from a drunken and
scarred man, into the powerful and charismatic warrior who can
unite the honorable samurai. The romance between Taka and
Algren is done quite tastefully and we see her slowly come to
realize Algren's remorse for the life he took from her. Prior to his
capture he had been in a conflict with the samurai and had killed
her husband just before his capture.
The Last Samurai does what few epics can do. It stands alone.
The film is intelligent, witty and powerful. It has relationships
worth watching and battles worth seeing. Algren and the
charismatic leader of the samurai, Katsumoto, develop a
friendship of respect and understanding. All i can say about Ken
Watanabe is that hes incredible and he deserves fame near and
far.
Overall the Last Samurai develops a feeling of care and beauty
amidst the gorgeous scenery of Ancient Japan. I loved the film
and almost everything about, besides the miscast Mr. Connoly,
who did fine anyway. 9/10