Last Samurai? Get Real. I Don't believe the hype.

Rating: 5/10 (25 December 2004)

It's a decent action flick. The fights are entertaining. Cruise is decent with a bokken but I doubt the good Captain could match a real lifelong practitioner after one season of training. The male bonding is familiar and Watanabe is interesting mostly for his deep voice and macho posturing. The line about spending a whole life looking for the perfect blossom is rubbish--useless words for a Samurai. The Japanese Emperor would not consider an American as one of his subjects back then, either. Yeah, it seems even American white people are tired of the self hating American white guy going native story. Maybe not, though, according to the many favorable reviews. It's hard to justify a fantasy by grounding it in historical reality-- Too many things to nit pick about. They should also avoid pompous statements like Last Samurai if they are trying to be serious. I don't think they were trying to be serious, though. I think they were trying to make a blockbuster movie that people liked, so good for them.
I must admit I was biased when I heard the title and then there was a picture of Tom Cruise in Samurai Armor. I was like,"Please, don't go there." As for all the acclaim, all I can say is Cruise must have some type of mojo. More Power to him. Well, I liked the culmination of the battle near the end. It was like you killed a part of your self and your ancestry and you lost something for it. The resolution of it all is confounding and and contrary to history. Why engage in a war to modernize and then refuse the thing over one Samurai and his sidekick American renegade? History shows the opposite occurred as well. Oh wait, it's a movie...and of course the ugly, greedy guy has to get it in the end. Not Bad. At least it's not Black Rain. Check out "Yakuza" with Robert Mitchum. It goes way deeper into Samurai Spirt than this one. That movie deserves all the acclaim this one got and more. Done with a whole lot more believability, craftsmanship and sincerity. Enough said. Cheers!