Starts our rough, but the film improves immensely.

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2003)

Advertisements pushed Edward Zwick's `The Last Samurai' as if it were an Oscar worthy film. In some ways it is, in others, it is not. One cannot deny that the film has fantastic battles scenes, lavish sets and costumes and good performances, but the film struggles to find itself because of the main attraction-Tom Cruise. He is an accomplished actor with undeniable talent. But the problem is that he does not fit the character. Combined with a movie clichés, it leaves some disappointment. However, the film does an about face when the samurai enter.	Nathan Algren (Cruise) is a former Civil War captain turned drunk because of his inability to deal with his past blunders under command resulting in the massacre of a Native American tribe. Now performing as a Winchester Gun spokesperson, he has been offered an opportunity to go to Japan to train Japanese soldiers to fight a samurai rebellion. He chooses to take the assignment because it offers him $500 a month. Soon after beginning their training, Algren is informed that the samurai intend to attack at a certain place and time. He argues that his men cannot fight the samurai because their training is insufficient. Regardless, he is forced to send his men into battle, which they lose easily. Algren is captured and taken prisoner to the village where the samurai live. While there, he becomes friends with the samurai leader Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) and learns of their traditions and why they rebel against the new dreams of modernization by the Emperor. Furthermore, he comes to self-actualization in this land where strength of mind and heart counter all. But he will still have to face his old life and former government on the battlefield once more. Cruise is a good bet when casting a film for his appeal among moviegoers. But one cannot cast an actor for that purpose alone. In the beginning, Cruise comes off as an actor trying desperately to play a drunk. Hardly believable when you have someone reading their lines so phonetically. His character should seem cockier, giving a greater presence of his arrogance and ignorance. However, as the film progresses, he falls into the role better. As such, his speaking so perfectly seems appropriate considering he is living a life that requires him to show respect. Another problem is one that I can only blame on the director-a cliché from one of his best films, `Glory.' In `The Last Samurai,' Algren tries to show his soldier's inadequate readiness for battle by having a soldier try to shoot at him. Obviously the soldier misses, but the scene plays out with Algren yelling at the soldier to load his riffle quickly, although he cannot. Algren yells, `DO IT! DO IT!' This is very similar to a scene in `Glory' where Commander Robert Shaw tries to get an African American soldier to do the exact same thing. Most will not recognize the obviousness of this scene. But to film buffs, it will leave a bitter taste on the part of Zwick's direction. The entrance of the samurai is incredible. They come out of the mist of the forest on horseback in slow motion evoking an eerie, yet astonishing sight. This is wherein the film gets far better and pulls itself out the pits of failure. Between lavish battle scenes, light moments of philosophy, and the improving performance on Cruise's part, `The Last Samurai' becomes an epic in movie quality similar to that of `Seabiscuit'-it starts out with clichés and errors, but quickly turns itself around to become a sweeping epic. ***