Awe-Inspiring

Rating: 10/10 (13 December 2003)

To cut to the chase, there is one very noticeable flaw in this film. There is a scene when a single teardrop falls from the corner of a little boy's eye... the wrong corner. Teardrops always fall from the inside corner, and this tear fell from the outside corner. Absolutely unforgivable, the biggest flaw of the film.
With that out of the way, here's the good stuff: Seemingly paradoxically, director Edward Zwick (he of the acclaimed civil war film "Glory") successfully melds an epic scope of panoramic battle sequences and lush settings with a character-driven storyline that is deeply affecting, yet charged with energy. This is like Dances With Wolves, minus the crap, plus some absolutely amazing (yet realistic and never fantastical) battle sequences that are picturesque and intense, without resorting to the dancelike choreography and CGI/wire effects that are popular nowadays.
Of course, the biggest question concerns Tom Cruise. The epitome of the phrase "star actor," there is sufficient cause to doubt his ability to assume a character-driven role... but there is no need to worry. Cruise has delivered a knockout punch of a performance, perhaps the best of his career--only overshadowed by the virtuosic job done by his co-star, Ken Watanabe, who seems to have stepped into the role straight out of one of Kurosawa's film (compare Watanabe's work as Samurai leader Katsumoto with any of Toshiro Mifune's roles to see what I mean).
To sum it up... if you haven't seen it, then what the hell are you waiting for?