Very Good Film

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2003)

After the disappointment that was The Matrix: Reloaded, I decided I wasn't going to see another movie until Return of the King. But on a whim, I decided to go out and see The Last Samurai. And while it wasn't the greatest movie of the year, or anything like that, it was a very good film. One I wouldn't be upset to see again if I had to.
The opinion on Tom Cruise seems to be quite mixed. I don't like him very much, but every once in awhile I think he makes a movie that shows he is a much better actor than he usually seems to be. I think this is one of those movies, yes at times the egomanic in him resurfaces, but on the whole I feel he gave a wonderful, quiet, understated performance that enhanced the movie.
And about the movie itself - there were elements of countless previous works, such as Dancing with Wolves and Shogun. But honestly, who cares? If the movie is good, if it is entertaining, who says it has to be the most original movie ever made? And that's exactly what this was, entertaining. There was a quiet respect throughout the movie for the Samurai way of life, I especially liked the line that Tom Cruise's character gave about probably never completely understanding it. It shows that us "Western intelligent people" can't understand everything, that there are other ways of doing things besides our own.
The battle scenes were ordinary, but still good. Hans Zimmer wrote a magnificent score, just one more in a long line of excellent work from him. The supporting cast was great, the fact that the intimacy in the movie was subtle and implied rather than outright and brash was appreciated, and added to the depth of the movie.
Reading over this, I'd say this would be rated somewhere in the mid to upper range from me. But something about it makes me really like it, I think it's just a combination of the small factors that combined to make this a really good film. Not excellent, but certainly worth the price of admission.