There are not many this I care less about than Japanese politics in the early C20.

Rating: 6/10 (9 February 2004)

Spoiler alert It was not until I had left this movie that I realized that there are not many this I care less about than Japanese politics in the early C20.
This is the tale Nathan Algren (Cruise), a captain in the American army, still scarred by the ethnic cleansing of the Red Indians. Anyway Algren is hired by the Japanese army to train their troops in the fight against the rebellious Samurai. Algren is captured in battle and learns the way of the Samurai.
As the movie progresses the politics gets harder to understand and loopholes appear in the plot line such as 'Why does Algren change sides?' and 'Why does Algren fall in love with the widow of a man he killed in battle?'. Also the movie begins to drag and all the scenes not involving Algren are in Japanese. The makers of the movie seem to believe that this can be made up for with cool scenes involving ninjas, which is partly true.
The producers made the mistake here of trying to mix Samurai, the coolest guys in the world, with an epic. By the end of the movie you could not care less whether the samurai get killed or not, you just want it to end. This has Hollywood corniness written all over it and the final scenes of this are packed with enough cheese to make you sick. Having said this I have seen a lot worse movies and Cruise is good in his role. In the year of Cold Mountain and Return of the King, it's still a disappointment.