Tuesday, 24 February 2015

The Last Samurai (2003)

Genre


Director


Country


Cast

Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shin Koyamada, Tony Goldwyn, Masato Harada, Shichinosuke Nakamura, Timothy Spall, Seizo Fukumoto, Koyuki, Billy Connolly, Shun Sugata, Sosuke Ikematsu, Scott Wilson, Togo Igawa

Plot

Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), a veteran of the U.S. Civil War, is hired by the Emperor Meiji (Shichinosuke Nakamura) to train an army capable of wiping out the samurai. But when Algren is captured by the samurai and taught about their history and way of life, he finds himself conflicted over who he should be fighting alongside

Opinion

I wasn't expecting much from this film, I thought it would be just another high-budget film starring Tom Cruise, without any depth. I've never been more wrong in my life. I absolutely loved it and I regret not watching it before.
The Last Samurai is a brilliant story of honour, tradition and courage, and glorifies the Samurai lifestyle in a sublime way.
The film, masterfully directed by Edward Zwick, manages to capture Japanese men living in a transition world: the fall of the Bushido and the rise of a modern empire.
The action/fighting scenes are spectacular. The sublime music, provided by Hans Zimmer, contributes in making the film even more fantastic.
Tom Cruise - actor I don't particularly like, and the reason why I watched this film only now - gives his best performance ever. However, Ken Watanabe, who plays Samurai leader Katsumoto, steals the show with his intense and mesmerising performance, and the Oscar is definitely worthy, but the Academy rarely fails to disappoint.

Buy on Amazon.com

Quotes

Katsumoto: You believe a man can change his destiny?
Algren: I think a man does what he can, until his destiny is revealed.

Emperor Meiji: Tell me how he died.
Algren: I will tell you how he lived.

Katsumoto: The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life.

Katsumoto: Perfect... They are all... perfect...

Simon Graham: [narrating] And so the days of the Samurai had ended. Nations, like men, it is sometimes said, have their own destiny. As for the American Captain, no one knows what became of him. Some say that he died of his wounds. Others, that he returned to his own country. But I like to think he may have at last found some small measure of peace, that we all seek, and few of us ever find.

Rating

10/10

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