The Last Samurai - Bushido "The Warrior Code"

Rating: 9/10 (31 March 2004)

This movie blew me away...i've liked Tom Cruise for years, but he surprised me this time. I did read some other recommendations, and i cant understand some of the criticism.
This film portrays an american soldier, Colonel Nathan Algren(played by Tom Cruise), who has both nightmares and moral issues with what he has seen of slaughter in the indian wars, and his demons makes him seek comfort in alcohol, like so many soldiers do when not coming to terms with their beliefs and the reality of having done horrible things in battle.
So when the Director draws parallels from the native americans to the samurais, he actually shows us the last days of two dying cultures.
Now the samurais in this movie are not evil, nor is the imperial army. The fight between the two sides is a cultural battle, wich i think the movie portrays well. The only character that comes away as a "bad guy" is the war minister, Omura, who is the one that originally hire Algren, to train the japanese in modern warfare. Cruise is pressed into battle by his senior commander, played by Tony Goldwyn (in a good role, i might add), and he is subsequently captured by the Samurai's, when the attack disintegrate as the samurai charges.
This teaches us all a simple lesson, if u want to make a statement, be prepared.
While Algren is fighting off the attacking samurais, we see the vivid dream of Katsumoto, as seen in the beginning of film. The flag with the white tiger... a subtile symbolism, and premonition of two destinys, Algren's and Katsumoto's (played with magnetism and conviction by Ken Watanabe) coming together.
The way Cruise and Watanabe plays these two characters impresses me, they both know, and the actors shows us...without words that their characters fate are bound to each other. Cruise kills the husband of Taka, Katsumoto's sister, and gradually, with time, Taka, understands she does not hate Algren, but she comes to terms with the events that led to her loss. She then opens up to Algren, making it possible to fall in love with him as the cultural barrier (in this case, the language) is broken down.

The battle scenes are excellent, and the sword-wielding is caught on film with such force, that it can actually make u gasp for air.
What i liked about the film was the way it portrayed the samurai's, like Ujio, Katsumoto's samurai lieutenant and the older silent man (Algrens Guard)...
Ujio comes across as the tough samurai u dont want as your enemy, but later in the film, as the village starts to trust Algren, Ujio then becomes more humane, and in the end u are sad to see him die on horseback.

The old man guard is another heroic character, along with Katsumoto's young son. In the late part of the movie, as a soldier is about to shoot Algren, he charges the enemy as he screams out the only word from him in the whole movie, calling out to Algren his name, then runs in front of him to take the bullet ment for Algren, in this moment he becomes a hero of mine.. pretty powerful stuff.
The battle between the "new" army and the samurais has its parallels to battles where a small band of warriors charges a larger force outnumbers and outgunned.
The motive for all this fighting, u might ask ? Algrens primary objective is money, but in his encounter with the samurais he finds the clensing he needs regarding alcohol and nightmares, and he discovers a true meaning to being a warrior, fighting for your beliefs and your honor.
The end, after Katsumoto and all the Samurais are dead, has some twists, the trade agreement is rejected by the emperor, as Algren brings him the sword of Katsumoto, who's wish it was only to serve the people and the emperor.
This is where Omura's actions comes back to haunt him, and Katsumotos death becomes justified. As for Algren, well i, like Mr. Graham likes to think that Taka and Algren found some sort of peace together after the turmoil and agony shared through-out the movie.
I recommend this movie highly, the fact Tom Cruise is in it should be 1st reason, but Katsumoto's character, and the story itself even overshadows Tom Cruise a bit. There are subplots and personal dynamics in it that gives the movie a lot of depth, that makes it a good 2nd reason, and the 3rd...all the Samurais looks fierce, proud and commited.
The Bushido - The warrior Code, i have never really grasped the essence of it fully, until i seen this good film.
The way Katsumoto finds the last sentence for his poem just when about to die is what i found to be the best scene in movie, and it sums up the "Last Samurai" for me.