Charge of the lightweight brigade

Rating: 3/10 (6 December 2003)

Most Americans I know are polite, honest, decent people wishing nothing but good things for other people.
But the Americans I so often see on the screen are portrayed as violent, know-it-all, stronger-than-everybody-else, gross, ignorant-and-proud-of-it trailer trash kind of folks. The Last Samurai continues in this tradition. With his trademark open-mouthed stares into space, this little man (Tom Cruise) who has the stage presence of a soap opera stand-in, is constantly trying to fit into shoes that are way too big for him.

It was hard throughout the long series of scenes to contain our laughter. (Spoiler) It was impossible to do so when in the last moments of the film, this little guy from good ol' USA crawls in, all patched up after being repeatedly sworded and shot multiple times by a battery of Gatling guns. He makes an inarticulate plea to the Emperor, who tear in eye, decides on the spot to change the course of Japanese history. And Hi'o, Tonto, away....!!!
If I were an American, I would be embarassed by this kind of self congratulating idiocy.