The Last Samurai

A December 2007 purchase, this one's been backlogged for nearly two years. It's famous enough and critically acclaimed, so chances are decent enough that anyone reading this has already seen it. I think the hardest thing for me, with this movie, was buying Tom Cruise as a Civil War hero turned martial arts master. I think he's at his best as the fast-talking sarcastic guy, and really enjoyed his performances in movies such as Rain Man, Jerry Maguire, A Few Good Men, and even Tropic Thunder. I can even deal with him as a man on the run or an action movie star, like he was in Minority Report, War of the Worlds, and the Mission: Impossible movies. But a soldier? A war hero? Give me Mel Gibson instead. Plenty of other aspects of the film seemed just a little too far-fetched or unlikely as well. I'll give away no spoilers, but let's just say that some extremely unlikely partnerships and alliances are made, on both the bedspread and the battlefield. Was this movie based on a true story? Not really; it was only even very loosely based on certain historical events. Now, I'm usually a stickler for historical accuracy whenever possible, but the creative liberties taken by the screenwriters of this film allowed for plot simplicity as well as a decent story. Ken Watanabe was great, however. He was really the driving force of the movie, for me, and without him, it'd have been a lot harder to empathize with or relate to the samurai of old Japan. For me, the movie was more or less everything I wanted it to be. But then, I didn't set my expectations as high as I could have. Worth a viewing, certainly. But is it in the same league as other contemporary war classics like Braveheart, Gladiator, or Saving Private Ryan? Probably not. Stick to the role of the frantic and cynical smartass, Tom; leave the war films for those more than five and a half feet tall.