A top notch heroic epic set in Meiji-era Japan

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2003)

The story for this film is set just after our Civil War. At the time, Japan had just overthrown the Shogunate and gone back to Imperial rule in a process known as the Meiji Restoration. The Emperor, Meiji, had a vision to bring Japan into modern times; to achieve this he began hiring experts from the world over to give Japan heavy industries, modern architecture, and a current, up-to-date Army. This movie chronicles the fictional events surrounding an American Army Captain, Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), and what happens to him on the ancient isles; also what happens to the Samurai as they are rendered classless, and pointless, in the new Meiji Era. (For more details, look up the battles of Chosou and Satsuma sometime.)

The storyline is fantastic and historically accurate; armor and weapons were up to par with what they had for that era. This movie has *the best swordfighting choreography* I've ever seen anywhere -- ever -- and I look for that kind of thing. Tom Cruise gives a solid performance and is very believable, even if his screen presence feels diminished standing next to someone like Ken Wantanabe, who steals the show with his carefully calculated manner.
The acting is great, the scenes are beautiful, the swordplay fantastic and realistic; this movie is totally worth anyone's time. There is a lot of care taken with respect to historical and cultural accuracy, so if you're a bigtime anime fan or student of japanese culture, you'll pick up a *lot* of details that most people miss (the depth of people's bowing, the honor accorded by someone committing seppuku, or being asked to stand as one's second for the process, etc).
Probably not the best family film, but definitely worth seeing repeatedly.