declan-76357
A beautifully depicted film showing the way of the last Samurai. Tom cruise Give a a convincing and compelling performance as does the other cast members.
A must see, with moments of real heart felt, tear jerking for the viewer. This film will stay truly close to my heart.
Andrew-crj
The Last Samurai is the story of a soldier who is captured by the samurai and during his captivity begins to see the beauty in this culture and actually chooses to side with them.
This is one of my all-time favorite films. The first time I saw this movie I was deeply affected by it. The thing that surprised me the most is that while the battle scenes are epic and very well done, not these were the focus of this film. The focus of this film is a heartfelt friendship that blossoms between the main characters (Nathan Algren & Katsumoto) who both come from very different cultures.
Also not to be overlooked is Hans Zimmer's beautiful score that I listen almost every day.
The Last Samurai to me is a very underrated film with great performances, beautiful soundtracks and wonderful storyline.
LemonLadyR
It's a good thing that Lawrence of Arabia and Dances with Wolves ('Lawrence of the plains') had already been done, else the writers would not have had a ready made script for this movie. And thus there is little that is original here. This too is a "white savior movie", with Cruise the savior. But Cruise is just terrible in this movie. He is a one note actor and relies on a few expressions and drama school techniques which all great actors rise above and develop into their own styles, but Cruise never has elevated himself to. He lacks sensitivity and what makes women (and men) fall in love with an actor, so that, in the end, he has no depth, no charisma, no power, and this role demands quiet power. And now, in the 21st century, all I see when I look at him is what he has become, a rabid cult leader (Scientology).The rest of the cast save this movie from a 1-star debacle. Superb ensemble. Ken Watanabe is a powerful treasure. His amazing transformation from this role to his delicate performance in Memoirs of a Geisha shows an amazing range. I think he is why Cruise's deficits are so apparent here. And I would watch Timothy Spall in anything. He may be a poor man's Philip Seymour Hoffman, but for me, he is all his own. It is hard to imagine this is the same actor who played a rock band's lovable road manager in Rock Star, but he finely crafts each role.While I am no fan of white savior movies, I don't mind the implied white apology of some of them. And we Americans do have some apologizing to do, for our extreme hubris and various crimes against humanity. Too bad we can't just get up and say it out loud, apologize, and get it over with, without the racial overtones of movies like this (oh my, the natives/foreigners are really nice and even *funny*, wow!). But until then, our conscience is played out in movies like this. Although hopefully, with less pathos and white dominance than The Last Samurai. Will we ever 'get' it?
