Dances with Samurai

Rating: 5/10 (24 January 2005)

Directed by Edward Zwick, "The Last Samurai" is the story of Civil War veteran Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), a man who is fighting his inner demons that originated from some actions against Native Americans that he didn't feel so good about. So he drinks a lot and is a freelance military adviser. His latest assignment is to go to Tokyo with some former colleagues and train the Emperor's troops in modern weaponry so they can defeat the last of the country's Samurai. During their first battle, he is captured by the Samurai who then take him under their wing, helping him heal his wounds and teaching him how to fight, etc. When the time comes to return back to his "rightful" place, he makes the choice to fight with the Samurai, who he now relates to most of all.
I'll say it right out of the box I really didn't like this movie that much. The film drowns in clichés: The slow motion fight scenes, the shots of Cruise in silhouette at sundown, practicing his moves, the screams of "Noooooooooo" as the incredibly wounded men charge, and Cruise getting knocked down five times during one of his early sparring matches, yet refusing to stay down because he's just a scrappy guy these are just a couple of the things I found myself rolling my eyes at. I rolled my eyes at those scenes, I chuckled at the fact that he managed to keep a perfectly trimmed beard and clothes that miraculously cleaned themselves after a fight in the rain and mud, and was actually howling during Cruise's detox scene in which he yells "Sake!!!!!!!!!!" over and over. But I was downright confused after the fight in the alley between Omura's henchmen and Cruise; we experienced the fight once, then suddenly he goes slo-mo and we have to watch the entire fight all over again. Why?! Don't even get me started on the ending. When he walked through the door to chat with the Emperor I almost fell out of my seat; I couldn't believe the film would seriously end that way.
I did not hate everything about the film. I thought that Ken Watanabe was phenomenal, and I really liked the fact that they spoke a lot of Japanese. I can't stand it when films think we assume that everyone in the world speaks flawless English. I think that the decision to keep the native language as pervasive as it was, was a good thing. The ninja scene was good, and there were also some great shots; particularly landscapes. However, these things only raise my opinion up from an extremely low position, they don't save the film for me. It was ironic that I watched this when I did because I watched "Rashomon" the day before, a film that was made 55 years prior, on a tiny fraction of the budget of "The Last Samurai", which got me thinking about Kurosawa. Of course, it is very difficult to compare Kurosawa to most filmmakers of this genre because he is pure genius, but conversely, it is sad that a film that does have the benefit of finances and precedents could make such a pale comparison. Also, when did someone decide that Tony Goldwyn was going to be THE bad guy in every movie ever made? It's become almost cliché at this point; go figure that he would be a part of THIS film.
I suppose if you like Tom Cruise, historical epics, or action films you should see "The Last Samurai", but it is barely mediocre, and although I had low expectations going in, I was still very disappointed. Merely because of the handful of positive aspects of the film, I give it a 5/10, a generous assignation in my opinion.
--Shelly