An Action-filled Epic That's Not Worth Fighting For...

Rating: Null/10 (13 December 2003)

...in which Pooh learns that the only way to respond to increasing modernization is through a violent, brutal uprising and senseless killing in order to preserve outdated, regressive ideals.
Does anybody remember that one episode of the Simpsons in which they're watching a historical movie, and Lisa makes some comment about how its completely inaccurate, only to have Bart tell her to shut up, because 'here come the ninjas'?
That is this movie.
Yes, in the middle of the movie, there is a completely random ninja attack. It is not pointless or superfluous, but it is jarring, to say the least, to suddenly see ninjas come out of no where and then vanish for the rest of the movie.
Now, I'm not going to bother with nitpicking all the historical inaccuracies, the follies of the final battle, nor even will I mention Tom Cruise's merely adequate acting (looks like I lied).
Let me compare it, for a moment, with Gladiator, and the Lord of the Rings. Each of these are fairly epic historical flicks, (or historical-fantasy, as the case may be), but behind all the battles and violence there is a single overridding goal. Maximus' goal is simple: Revenge against the man who murdered his family. The goal of LotR is equally clear: Save Middle Earth from the Dark Lord.
So what is the Last Samurai about? What are the samurai fighting for? Why are they willing to risk, not only their deaths, but the slaughter of thousands? Throughout the movie, the modernists and westernizers are demonized. It is obvious from the way the subject matter is treated that we are supposed to respect and sympathize with the samurai, who are fighting, I suppose, for the preservation of their old order.
But that's not worth fighting for, and if a story's heroes fight for a worthless cause, it is much more difficult to compel the audience to believe that they are, in fact, heroes. Doubly so for The Last Samurai, in which the cause of the samurai is sickeningly glorified to the point of absurdity.

The old order is not worth fighting for because it is a backwards society. Men can only devote their lives to the martial arts if they do not need to work in the shops and the fields, and that is what the samurai represent: a warrior class, above and aloof the common man, superior in every way, arrogant and stagnant. They are no less autocratic than the Emperor's councilors.
But certainly worth $7.