Class project

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2007)

I really liked this movie because of its well-developed plot, and the effective personalities of the characters. The changing emotions and views of the main character are also felt by the audience (or I felt that way, at least).
I think this movie had a very good plot because it followed the life of military man with "shell shock" and how he deals with that, how his views and beliefs changed while being a prisoner, and how he related to the audience's feelings when he decided to fight with the Samurai.
As for the other characters, Omura was an effective "bad guy" because he was stubborn and wanted victory and success by any means possible, and it was very satisfying to see what happened to his character at the end because there was an amount of loathing associated toward him. Algren's superior officer Col. Bagley (Tony Goldwyn) played a military colonel who only cared about money and victory, though he does follow orders. I liked what happened to this character near the end of the movie because of what Algren said to him near the start of the movie. Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) was a great character because he embodied the traits and personality of an honorable Samurai in the early 1900's. At the end, I felt a range of emotions, which kept me thinking well after the movie was over. The other rest of the cast, though seen less-often, played powerful roles for plot development.
This movie is very slow at parts, which is one of the bad things about it. It also is not a family movie, but even though it's rated R, mid to older teens might be able to watch it.
For the movie as a whole, it left me thinking about what it would have been like to live in a time like that. I would recommend watching this movie.