I have to come clean about something here! I might be a bit biased towards this film more than others. Well, not all others because I don't know every human on the planet, I am sure that maybe at least one other person is similar to me in this aspect. I happen to enjoy most of Tom Cruise's movies and on top of that I have a strong love for all things Samurai. So really what I'm getting at is this just might be a situation where I can actually say "Win/Win".
I can remember the first time I heard about this movie. It wasn't from a trailer or me stalking Tom Cruise on IMDB, but It was just a movie poster. A movie poster that I saw at a theater in southern California. My initial take from it was....WTF? A film that is called The Last Samurai, which I could really only guess is something Japanese, and is starring Cruise? By the way, I am kidding about the guess I just made previously. I am under the impression that Mr. Cruise is not in the least bit Japanese. So, How can a man that can't even be mistaken for any type of Asian be the star of The Last Samurai? Easily....The poster is misleading and is referring to the last band of Samurai and not the man depicted on the films marketing. I guess the folks in charge of the marketing department thought Cruise was more bankable than the actual Japanese people playing the actual Samurai the movie is named for.
Boy, was I ever so wrong! This flick is directed by Edward Zwick, which as you're probably like me and don't know much about him from hearing his name. I had to look him up to see if he has done anything of note ever, and what I found was he should likely be a household name already. This man directed the great film, Glory, as well as The Siege, and more recently, Blood Diamond. Why is it noone knows his name like a Spielberg or Scorsese is beyond me.
As far as the actors go I have to say this film has been snubbed by all critics and and the Oscars. Every single actor puts in good work here, my bad.....I guess I should say at the very least, great work. Tom Cruise usually play the cookie-cut-out-boy-next-door-always-wins-and-gets-the-girl type. This time he plays the drunk-as-hell-former-war-hero-that-wins-and-gets-the-girl type! So, completely different, right? Okay so maybe he isn't playing something so different from his normal fare but he does play a convincing drunk that is getting the whole cold turkey treatment. Ken Watanabe, for those that have heard of him, does a spectacular job as the leader of the band of Samurai the film is named after. He rarely disappoints, if ever really. There are a few people that are in this movie that I don't know their names and are too lazy to look up, but they are the few who are the picture's assholes. Meaning they play the antagonists and they do it so well that you will be looking forward to something bad to happen to them. Especially the guy playing Omura!
Some things that immediately stood out for me on a first viewing was the awesome score done by Hans Zimmer. I can guarantee that everyone has watched a ton of stuff and heard this mans talent before. Just to name a few others he composed music for are; Days of Thunder, Backdraft, True Romance, Gladiator, The Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception. Another thing that stood out on my first viewing was the scenery! Every shot seemed to have just something that jumped at me through the screen. Not "jumped at me" like a horror movie, but like the color of the grass in some shots is a very vibrant green. Sometimes it was a character's armor that was the sole scene stealer. Either way I think you get the point that this movie is very pretty. Costume design, as well, is done so well and feels authentic through out the entirety of the movie
What I can say about this movie from my own personal point of view is that I loved it from beginning to the end. Not one spot sticks out as least important to me. This film, to me, is one of the most underrated ones I personally have ever seen. It was nominated for 4 Oscars, which were, Supporting Actor (Ken Watanabe), Sound Mixing, Costume Design and Art Direction/Set Direction, and lost all of them. I find that unacceptable. It deserved all four and in my opinion, a few others as well. I have tried many a time to come up with a definitive list of my top 10 movies and have failed in doing so every time, but what I can say is The Last Samurai has consistently been on that list every single time. I love this film and have watched it I don't know how many times. Some folks I been reading about hate the very ending of the film but I am not one of them, as I feel it is important to the message it was trying to convey, which to me was about honor and staying true to yourself.
Anyway, please give this film a chance if you haven't seen it and if you have...watch it again and look a bit closer or listen to the score. This is true cinema!
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