Best samurai movie in history

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 2005)

When I first saw the trailer about this movie, it didn't excite me. Tom Cruise and samurai somehow didn't sound like a match, and my guess was that the movie was stereotypical plot about an American going to Japan to kick ass - I was wrong.
I just couldn't believe the detail they've put into this movie. Everything looked absolutely real, and even in Japanese made samurai movie you don't see this kind of authenticity (e.g. if you recall plastic looking Armour in Kurosawa's Kagemusha). Given that this movie was made on a budget that's 30x the most expensive samurai movie Japan's ever made, you can still have fouled the plot by making it an "American" samurai picture. But no, Ed Zwick's vision is so complete, it overwhelmed me. And Tom Cruise was not a simple hero character, but a character based on principle who found himself in a situation where he didn't know how to get out of (until he gets to Japan).
Ngila Dickson and Lily Kilvert did a fantastic job with costumes and sets. Cinematography was beautiful. Props and special effects were flawless. All the casts were absolutely believable. In short, a perfect movie.
I truly believe that Hollywood have outdone Japan in its own game with this movie. It's the greatest samurai movie ever made, and perhaps one of the last of its kind. Japanese studios are no longer producing samurai movies due to lack of interest from audiences, and it's doubtful that another movie like this would be made by an American studio. They say that swan's last song is its most beautiful and the saying might just apply to this movie.
If you turn off the picture and just listen to the dialog you'll notice that only Algren (Tom Cruise), Omura (Masato Harada), and Higen (Sosuke Ikematsu) are really speaking from the bottom of their person. Others are just giving lip service. Harada is a director and maybe he knows how the craft really works. Sosuke Ikematsu was just so great in his role as Higen. He was blowing away actors who had ten times more experience than him with his acting, and maybe (I hope) he will one day grow into a great adult actor himself. As for Tom Cruise, I guess he's the biggest star in Hollywood because he can bring believability into his character at this level.