: The Last Samuri
Different from what I was expecting. In many ways it’s deeper, but it wasn’t the cool action flick I was craving. Unfortunately, it’s a serious movie, and while at times that’s nice, it’s a darn depressing film. The story is about Japan in the 1800s when it was attempting to transition from the Samuri culture to a Western-style culture. The young emperor and his advisors want alliances with the West, but the Samuri want to preserve the old. The emperor brings in Western soldiers to train his troups in Western-style fighting, including Tom Cruise’s character, a drunk who’s fresh from the nightmare of the Civil War and Indian fighting. Tom’s obviously got a deathwish, but when he’s captured by the Samuri they don’t kill him, but keep him prisoner in order to study him. Slowly he learns the ways of the Samuri and eventually becomes one. This is the best part of the film as we see Tom’s character changing and developing, and the interaction and conflicts with traditional Japanese is fascinating. At some point, though, the film becomes an action flick, with Tom and his Samuri pals wielding sticks and swords. This is rather predictable and boring, routine stuff. Finally, we get a huge battle scene a la
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