Amazing

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2003)

An absolutely amazing Samurai movie NOT made by Akira Kuraswawa? Wow! The battles were great, the cultural exchanges were educational, it was a well rounded experience.
What this movie did do to me was make me very angry at how it seemed the ruling class in Japan so harshly turned on and destroyed the warrior class (Samurai) so readily. I want to do some more historical research now.
I also liked how they included assassins that I would assume were ninja, though I wonder if they were clothed appropriately, since they seemed to be wearing the more modern Soke Hatsumi style outfits versus what I'd expect for the 1800's, but again, I could just have things mixed up.
Tom Cruise was kinda dorky in interviews for this movie, particularly with Oprah... he does NOT coke off like that IN the movie, where it's important.
9/10