Beautiful, but still lacking

Rating: 7/10 (5 March 2006)

I LOVE this movie! But it's not all that it's made out to be. In some ways, it's more, but in others, it's less. Let me explain.
This film has been hyped as a masterpiece of cinematic art. It IS wonderfully filmed, with great effects, superior sound, and beautiful location shots. A masterpiece? Hardly. The plot line is too weak, Cruise's character so contrived, that there is little point to this movie.
This film has been dogged as completely useless with too many slow spots. It DOES have slow spots. It is primarily a drama, actually, regardless of how it was billed, so there ARE slow areas where story- or character-development are given center stage.
It seems viewers either love or hate this movie based on the two basic factors above; however, I find myself somewhere in the middle. I was genuinely surprised with the caliber of performance Tom Cruise turned in. I'm NOT a fan of his work, but this time, his portrayal was quite compelling. I found the story and all and details surrounding the way of life of Japan's past to be interesting, and the action sequences (what there was of them) were stunning. So was the cinematography of this picture. Astounding and the landscape shots were breath taking.
All in all, I enjoyed this work, although I don't consider it as art house as the makers (or the Academy) did.
It rates a 7.4/10 from...
the Fiend :.