QuiGonJosh

I thought they handled Taka's distain for Algren very well in one see with her and Katsumoto...I think she loves him because her children too and I think there is a definate attraction there right off the bat...

Rzarecta

I just got back from seeing The Last Samurai, and I couldn't agree more. This is the movie to beat in 2003. I loved every single moment of this movie.

A+

movielib

I liked it until

**½ / ****.

immortal_zeus

This was the most anticipated movie of the year for me and I'm glad I wasn't disappointed.

Strangely enough, I went into the movie, POSITIVE that I would love it so as I watched it, I decided to nitpick at certain parts of the movie just to keep myself grounded.

Here are some of my nitpicks:



Those are the main nitpicks that I had. Still, they weren't so bad as to not let me enjoy the movie. I loved it. I will agree that the ending kind of sucked, though. I had to do my best to suppress my laughter while the emperor spoke.

I think the movie should have explained the Bushido code a little more for the scores of people who don't understand it (I assume that there are a lot) and are not familiar with samurai. Along with that, they could have probably went into more detail as to why seppuku (AKA hara-kiri...ritual suicide) is so important to Bushido and samurai. I hope people who see this movie understand all of that because it's an important part of of the movie and of Japanese history.

Speaking of history, I'm not sure if this has been discussed elsewhere, but the Katsumoto character (and therefore the movie) was based upon the real life of the samurai Takamori Saigo.

Ken Watanabe was brilliant as Katsumoto; I thought he did a better job than Cruise (though Cruise will probably be given the lion's share of the credit).

shaun3000

Yeah, the CGI wasn't very good, by today's standards. The harbor scene obvious.

The worst was a long, crane shot of a village, or something. Anyway, as it swooped up, it went behind a lamp post or tree, and on te other side, it suddenly became CG. I guess it was supposed to help make a seamless transition, but it was completley obvious. The CG version didn't match the real version. It looked to fake

QuiGonJosh

I didnt notice the CG...which means its good CG...I was so into the story it didnt matter...and Im a big CG nitpicker...

sundog

I can't say I was disappointed. My expectations were low, propelled more by curiosity than interest in Zwick, Cruise or the story.

It was picturesque, with a kind of superficial beauty. Usually the long shots make an epic, or at least instill an awe and appreciation for what's being depicted. But man, the long shot never looked emptier than in The Last Samurai. The battles were exciting enough, I yearn to watch Ran again.

Symptomatic of my feelings of the film: When Algren returns in the spring and goes to see the Japanese industrialist (Omura) in his office, there was a massive painting that we only see the bottom half, looked like some man getting trampled by a horse. I was more interested in seeing the whole canvas than any dialogue or action in that scene.

flixtime

Haven't had a chance to catch the movie yet. Those who did or intend to might be interested in the current episode of History vs. Hollywood airing tonight on cable's The History Channel. Tonight's episode focuses on the film The Last Samurai; it's on at 8pm (EST) and repeats at midnight (EST). Also, airing after the History vs. Hollywood episode on The Last Samurai, they will be showing a 2-hour documentary on the Samurai. The documentary also repeats at 1am (EST).

movielib

Thanks, flixtime. I'm going to watch it.

CaptainMarvel

Frank TJ Mackey

It should have good word of mouth going into the second weekend, the box office was nothing to write home about.

But it was a 2 hour, 45 minute (w/previews) R-rated film, so you have several strikes against you right there.

metaridley

I don't care what anyone says, this movie was great. It's one of the best films of the year. You can nitpick *ANY* movie to death, and you're always going to find something to criticize and write home negatively about. For me, I couldn't find anything wrong with it, and I didn't notice any bad CGI (usually I notice such things, like in The Matrix Reloaded's "Burly Brawl", for example). Tom Cruise gave one of his best performances, IMHO, and although I typically don't like his movies, he deserves special recognition here. Bash Tom Cruise for the other movies he's been in, but in this one, he was fantastic. Overall, it was well worth my time to see The Last Samurai, and most of the negative reviews I have read deal with things that shouldn't affect anyone's enjoyment of the movie. I fully recommend this one.

DonnachaOne

It was alright. Nothing special and nothing we haven't seen before. You could guess what people would be like and each scene's outcome.

MasterCXtreme

I saw, it, loved it. I'd give it a 9/10.

But I have a question, I heard it somewhere, can't remember where exactly. But I was told that this was a true story, at least based on one. Is this true?

syphon00

Katsumoto may have been based on Takamori Saigo

quote from http://www.artelino.com/articles/samurai.asp

Many samurai were desperate with their situation and the loss of their former status. They gathered under Takamori Saigo, the head of a powerful clan living in the southern region on the island of Kyushu. Saigo had worked for the new Meiji government in a leading position. But after nine years he became dissatisfied with the direction things took under the Meiji emperor. He quit and gathered around his Kyushu residence an army of samurai hostile towards the central imperial government.

In 1877 it came to the battle of Satsuma. The rebels were lead by Saigo Takamori. It was a clash of traditional samurai weapons against a modern army equipped with Western technology and trained in modern Western warfare. 60,000 government troops faced 40,000 rebels. The battle was a short one. The samurai rebels fought bravely but were completely defeated in a bloody battle. Saigo Takamori was wounded and committed suicide in samurai tradition. The casualty rate was more than 50% percent among the samurai rebels. 2,000 more were executed later.

Saigo Takamori became a hero for the Japanese. The victorious emperor made a clever move. He pardoned Saigo posthumously.

immortal_zeus

That's what I said in my post (2nd to the last paragraph).

Giles

While technically amazing, the majority of the film was a mess. The villians cookie cutter and one-dimensional. Japanese characters conviently being able to speak English. A cliched and implausible romance. Timothy Spall's character that could have easily been expendiable. Ken Watanabe out- acting Cruise (his over angsty expressions got grating and excessive). The typical 'Hollywood' music score that was over the top and unnessary, if Zwick was true to his admiration for Japanese cinema, he would have known that music is more of an after thought to the genre, and importantly, character and story are the key elements in telling a story. The historical impression that Japanese feudalism - specifically samurais lived a simple, honourable lifestyle juxatoposed with 'progressive' Western conversion (seen in the film as a negative) - was condescending to a society that benefitted largely from Westernism. Style over substanance is a major flaw in "The Last Samurai".

covenant

What romance? Did we watch the same movie????

Giles

Algren and the samurai widow. When she gives him the armour, if you didn't get the subtle romance there, where were YOU? It was a feeble attempt to hint at an aspect of Algren that was unecesarry and plot device for him to wear to armour.

metaridley

Man, some people just don't get it. I thought that scene was great, and it didn't end the way it should. The fact that Tom Cruise never once locks lips with the samurai window shows how this movie isn't cliched, and that their romance was developed to a bare minimum, to the point where it didn't even resemble a romance found in most movies. Overall, complaining about this movie having a "cliched and impossible romance" is an absolutely terrible nitpick. It entertained on many levels, and the romance wasn't overbearing or in-your-face; on the contrary, it was barely there. So, I think if you're going to complain about that, then you're looking for the wrong things in movies.

chucks888

I thought the movie was OK at best. While it was all fairly well done, it just felt like something we've already seen before. The CG some of your were discussing- it was fairly noticeable on the wide scenic shots. I don't know how you can miss them. (example: the wide revealing shot of "San Francisco" towards the beginning.) But I did see the movie on a huge digital projection screen, so maybe it was more noticeable.

Those were obvious CG 'money shots'. (which are almost completely absent from "Master and Commander" which impressed me greatly) They didn't bother me really, they get the job done, but it does take me out of the movie. Also, this may be just me, but the New Zealand landscape was very distracting. It does not look like Japan to me at all. In fact much of the scenes in the grass valley reminded me of "hobbiton", with the appropriate Japanese hut sets added of course.

The movie on the whole was just extremely cheesy to me:

BT

Count me as a big fan of this movie. Wanted to see it since I saw the original trailer so many months ago. I was not disappointed. The audience I saw it with was equally captivated and fortunately they didn't clap after scenes as was mentioned by someone several pages ago.



And someone else said that he was dismayed by how many of the Japanese characters could conveniently speak English. To my recollection, only 3 were able to. Omura, Katsumoto, and the Emperor. Everyone else spoke only Japanese. At least that's how I recall it.

Oh and the best scene to me


-BT

sundog

Right, barely there: underdeveloped, pointless. If the film had any confidence in the story it was telling or even the relationship between Algren and Katsumoto there would be no need for this empty romance. It's just a useless plot device to get Cruise into Samurai armor. And it's not a nitpick when

The Last Samurai overstates itself, trapping itself into a set of principles that it won't even adhere to by the end. Characters are hollow and typical despite the best efforts of certain actors (Watanabe being the only lead to communicate any type of charisma or depth, despite the script). The look of the film is purely decoration, the characters are solely in the foreground. They don't inhabit this world, they pose in front of it. The music is dull. And even the scenes inspired by past Japanese masters are cheapened by the context in which they appear.

These are some pretty big nitpicks: Theme, Characterizations, Visuals, and Music. I can enjoy a film that's faulty in some of these areas, but I won't let it off the hook.

Corvin

...yet most people still love it. As they should. I think the general consensus is that this is a very enjoyable movie. I agree with said consensus.

sundog

That's fine, got no qualms here about its popularity. Possibly people love it for the exact same things I criticize, and that would be great. I just took issue with the belief that any criticism of the movie is completely unfounded and miniscule.