Review of The Last Samurai (2003) by Starfox — 14 Dec 2003
Visually stunning, particularly in battle, but The Last Samuai never escapes from being a Tom Cruise movie. From the very opening scenes, I never bought Tom Cruise in this role and as the film went on (and on) I was less convinced.
And without believing the main protagonist, I never believed the movie. Not to mention the fact that these samurai train all their lives from when they are small boys to be great warriors and over the course of ONE winter, Cruise becomes the best of the bunch, [spoiler omitted].
It's as though the filmakers researched Japanese culture by studying American movies ("Glory," "Dances with Wolves," "The Matrix," etc.) instead of Japanese history.
I kept waiting for Katsumoto to ask Tom to take the blue pill.
This review of The Last Samurai (2003) was written by Starfox on 14 Dec 2003.
The Last Samurai has generally received positive reviews.
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