The Last Samurai 
out of 5
Of course the whole
"stranger in a strange land who learns to embrace and eventually defend his newly adopted homeland" concept is not a particularly new or unique one. Kevin Costner won a boatload of Oscars for his politically topical
Dances with Wolves several years back, and Edward Zwick told the tale in his fantastic Civil War movie
Glory. So learning that similar ground is covered once again in Zwick's
The Last Samurai may be a bit disappointing to moviegoers looking for something different from their "fictionally historical action epic" - but it shouldn't.
The Last Samurai is a majestic and rousing adventure and it's easily one of this year's best "Grown-Ups" movies.
Sometimes a film needn't be wholly original to earn praise. In Modern Hollywood, it's impressive enough when a group of filmmakers can polish off a well-traveled plotline and still succeed thanks to the age-old tools of the trade: a smart screenplay, a handful of excellent acting performances, and a director fully confident that he can breathe some new life into a potentially familiar tale.
Quietly and without all that much attention, director Edward Zwick has become the leading supplier of quality epics and intelligent action, able to produce films that incite emotion without overt manipulation and action sequences that succeed because of the strength of the characters and not the indulgence of explosions.
The year is 1876 and war hero Nathan Algren has fallen on rough times. Wholly reliant on alcohol to soothe his battlefield scars, Algren has become a merchandising tool for a gun manufacturer. Wallowing in his drunkenness and haunted by the atrocious acts he's committed in battle, Algren earns a chance at redemption...or, at the very least, a paid vacation very far away from the U.S.
It seems that the Japanese government is finally gearing up to join the modern world, and their goal is to hire warfare experts from around the globe in an effort to rid the Japanese countryside of the last remaining Samurai warriors. That's not to say that the Samurai are necessarily the "villains", but that they're a relic of the old-school ways that the current regime would like to see extinct.
Although initially hired to help defeat the Samurai scourge, Algren is promptly defeated in battle and taken as prisoner by the very cadre he's been hired to help exterminate. By this point, you clearly know where the movie's headed: Algren becomes enamored with the Samurai and their codes of honor and before too long must choose which side he'll be fighting for: the old-fangled honor or the unstoppably modern.
So the backbone of the narrative is somewhat familiar, yet very few films have bothered to tell a respectable story about who the Samurai actually were. So this new setting affords us a new sort of warrior, and Zwick's film revels in its lush Japanese locales, its attitudes and (most excitingly) its method of battle.
Label
The Last Samurai "a Tom Cruise" flick and you'll be missing out. Sure, the mega-star looks great (even when bloodied and nasty) and gets to assume a cocksure heroism at just about every turn...but damn if Cruise doesn't actually deliver one his best performances to date. In most of his films, one feels that they're seeing "Tom Cruise, lawyer" or "Tom Cruise, sensitive sports agent," whereas here the guy actually disappears into the role. Or he comes as close to disappearing as the world's most popular movie star actually can.
Cruise acquits himself exceedingly well, but the strength of
The Last Samurai (no, not the battle scenes; I'm getting to those) lies in its supporting cast. Colorful character actors like Timothy Spall, William Atherton, Billy Connolly and (especially) Tony Goldwyn capably buoy any dialogue scene that doesn't have Tom Cruise as its center of attention...and then there's the astoundingly commanding performance of Ken Watanabe. As the deeply honorable leader of the Samurai clan, Watanabe starts out as a stone-faced adversary and slowly warms into a confused and entirely sympathetic warrior who feels betrayed by his country's sudden disdain for tradition. It may be a long shot, but you'll hear some loud cheering from my corner of the globe should Watanabe earn himself an Oscar nomination for his work here.
So yes:
The Last Samurai is an epic both involving to the brain and dazzling to the eyes, laden with excellent performances and featuring a screenplay that skirts familiarity and offers a compelling tale. That's all fine and good. But what about the ACTION? Sure, drama can do a whole lot...but people like big flashy battle sequences, clanging sword-fights and battlefield heroics.
This movie's got a whole lot of that stuff. A catalog of the individual action bits is entirely unnecessary; suffice to say that the second and third act of
The Last Samurai are laden with enough "good stuff" to fill the next two Jerry Bruckheimer movies. (Only this one has characters with some depth.) There's the "ooh, that was neat" sort of action, the "whoa, that's huge" sort of spectacle, and (most importantly) the "oh no" sort of drama that only occurs in war epics with sincere hearts.
And that's why
The Last Samurai succeeds; it's sincere and respectful to its subject matter while delivering a rousing adventure tale...wrapped up in that comfy old Redemption Movie we all love so much.
And the extensive battles are gonna blow you away.
