Shogun was better

Rating: Null/10 (6 December 2003)

The best thing about this movie was being introduced to Koyuki, Ken Watabnabe and Shin Koyamada, yet the premise that cultures other than the white man's cannot learn to do anything right unless the American hero (Tom Cruise) teaches them should be insulting to any one outside of Hollywood. It was clear that the target audience was the average American moviegoer, but the premise is really outdated. Granted, the hero ultimately learns that other cultures have noble features equal to or greater than his own, but it was so manipulative a presupposition that it left an embarrassing impression, especially when **SPOILER ** all the samurai were left dead on the battlefield, except of course for Tom Cruise, who goes back to the village and takes the prettiest widow for his wife. Now that's a happy Hollywood ending. Audiences were clearly meant to feel warm and fuzzy at the end, in spite of the bloody battle scenes, because Tom Cruise's intervention enabled the samurai warrior to die a noble death. For all the work put into this movie, it used every worn out cliché in the book. Shogun was better.