The Last Samurai (2003)

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Director Edward Zwick

Stars Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Timothy Spall & Billy Connolly.

Things You Might Like

• Epic historical drama with samurai
• Strong emotional core
• Simple and effective characters
• Sustained and understated performance from Cruise
• Samurai v Ninjas fight

Things You May Not Like

• Patchwork approach to historical accuracy
• Goes for the tears more than the heart
• Cameo from Ghostbusters and John Mclane nemesis William Atherton – boo!

Conclusion
A proper historical epic; underplayed, unsentimental and enthralling. A great salute to the samurai way of life.

4 out of 5 Wakizashi Swords

Luke McGrath

***

Tom Cruise has been in some pretty predictable fayre over the years. His trained spy/fighter pilot/cocktail waiter routine has generally worked and never seemed broken. Yet with The Last Samurai Cruise took a risk and gains a huge amount of credibility and respect. He reminds us of the range and emotion that defines his better films.

Cruise’s troubled American cavalry veteran, Captain Algren, brings out one of his most detailed performances. Algren is no hero; he’s haunted by his role in a massacre of defenceless Native Americans. Broken by his memories and shattered by his alcoholism, Algren is given an unexpected opportunity. He is asked to train the Japanese army to use its new American weapons in a war against the samurai.

Leading an unprepared army in an attack on the samurai proves the making of Algren. He is captured by the enemy and trapped in their mountain village throughout winter. He learns to respect the traditional way of life and discipline of his captors, eventually standing with them in a last battle against the new army.

The Last Samurai is a story of changes, of the old standing against the new. It stands by its convictions and is brave in its criticism of American imperialism. For Cruise to attach his star rating to such a project shows his faith in the material. With Cruise’s dedication, The Last Samurai becomes a rare thing: a film that believes in its message.

Suitably epic in plot, the real skill in The Last Samurai is in Cruise’s subdued performance. He exposes his character, at first to the audience and then to his samurai captors. In doing the latter, he allows the supporting cast room to grow. As Algren learns, so do we. Our sympathy for the plight of the samurai deepens as his is born.

Director Edward Zwick amassed a talented cast of Japanese actors to play the crucial samurai roles. In Ken Watanabe he has a dignified leader, controlled, wise but deadly on the battlefield. Watanabe’s council is similarly well drawn; the village is populated with a mix of characters, each with a strength and voice we care to hear.

But this is not Seven Samura-lite. The support is underplayed and spread equally among the players. Whilst Cruise’s name sits largest on the poster, it is the samurai way of life that stars. Taking nothing away from Cruise, indeed it is his skill that gives the film the confidence to take place away from Algren.

What could have easily dripped in sentimentality, stands strong and dignified. It is a shame that The Last Samurai was largely overlooked at the awards (I’ll refer you to the criticism of American imperialism once again). Until the final frame the drama holds up, never letting go of the magnitude of the events. The cast, Cruise in particular, never attempt to out-act the story. Rarely has a film so epic in scope underplayed itself so wisely. It’s a real shame that it has been similarly underplayed in awards bodies’ estimations.

Buy The Last Samurai from Amazon