As an Avid moviegoer and Japanophile, There is reasonable compromise

Rating: Null/10 (15 February 2004)

7.5/10 "It is a bit over dramatic, and if one has no prior knowledge to the samurai, he/she will most likely overlook many things."

This movie is one of the best American made movies I have seen concerning the Samurai. There are so many subtle points of accuracy that, without prior knowledge of Bushido or Japanese culture, one would easily miss or disregard.
Of course, there are better films out there concerning Samurai (Kurosawa anyone?) and this book shares some similarities with the epic novel Shogun (and Shogun is far more detailed and less Hollywood, of course) and how can one not complain of the Hollywood ending? Except for the fact that Tom Cruise repeats a line that Ken Watanabe said which establishes Tom Cruise as "The Last Samurai." Of course, it can be argued that Ken Watanabe was the Last Samurai.
What is with the emperor! My biggest complaint is the emperor, who is a major pansy! hahaha unfortunately I do not know how the emperor was at the time, perhaps he was young and perhaps he did have a high pitched English voice (if I were Japanese, I might even be a little offended that the living god says a line along the lines of "I am only the emperor if they want me to be"... c'mon! This is a country whose Emperor ruled under a mandate until MacArthur forced the Emperor to denounce his own divinity after World War II)
Still, the cinematography is great! I have heard some complains, such as some scenes where they show a man meditating and pouring tea (for those who don't know, the tea ceremony was quite the cleansing experience, held in high esteem) and I do agree; some of the music does border on over dramatic, although I enjoyed it a lot.
The ending p***ed me off. I mentioned it above, it did go all Hollywood.
Some question "why did Tom Cruise's character go to their side" to me, the most questionable aspect was why the samurai didn't kill Cruise. To the Samurai, and to the Japanese soldier in World War II, capture is worse then death. In death one can find dignity, however, being captured is being put lower than a dog. The Japanese did some sick stuff to their prisoners, because they do not see captives as human anymore. Anyways, it is sort of feasible that they kept Cruise (ooo~ because he has the strong fighting spirit ~ooo) , although, the Japanese had this whole idea back then of Westerners being the devils (with big noses)
On a side note, the ninja scene was awesome. The weapons they used were very historically accurate. This is an example of one of those small details most people probably did not pick up.
This movie is so underrated. I think that Cruise and Watanabe (especially Watanabe) do a great job, and despite some of its more Hollywood aspects, it does an excellent job of capturing the Samurai It is a bit over dramatic, and if one has no prior knowledge to the samurai, he/she will most likely overlook many things. spirit and even throwing in some hidden Bushido.