Review of The Last Samurai (2003) by Gjds-7 — 26 Oct 2013

To be honest I found this movie the first I've turned on my TV, on the Movie Channel one day. I didn't start from the beginning but I got hooked when I watched it further. The battles in the movie are a gem to watch especially with Hans Zimmer's talents mixed in with them. The last battle with the machine guns almost made my eyes water it was that powerful. Even though it's not historically correct (in other words this is historical fiction) the characters are compelling to watch and the development between Nathan(Cruise) and Katsumoto(Watanabe) are interesting to watch in some ways, and usually when it comes down to movies involving prejudice it does get really old and repetitive pretty quickly but what I haven't seen in movies is the prejudice of beliefs. The conflict to save the old ways of the samurai from the rise of the next century is something we don't usually see in films now a days. It's actually a pretty descent type of prejudice we should see more in movies, battles for beliefs. This movie is also fun to watch because of the samurai culture it shows, made me feel more intrigued to learn more about Japanese culture now.

But I digress. So how does the movie turn out? Well I can see why its not the most well known movie (I blame the trailer for that much) but to me this movie is on my favorites list when it comes down to good story telling, an interesting look on old fashioned Japan, the music is beautiful even though at times I do here some of the Pirates of the Caribbean score a little bit, and gives some solid performances and exciting battle scenes. What else can I say but good movie.

The final verdict for this movie to me is 4 katanas/5 and for the site I give it an 8.