Of all the films I saw last year Director Edward Zwick’s The Last Samurai stands out as one of my favorites. My reasons are simple; ever since I started watching the films of Akira Kurosawa I’ve become a huge fan of samurai movies. It’s simply the whole mythos behind them; their honour system, dedicated training, and focused life style simply strikes me as much more interesting then any fantasy goblins and orcs combo could ever acquire.
Now in spite of all that The Last Samurai has received criticism for it’s historical inaccuracies of which I am now well aware, however my own feelings for the film have remained unchanged, simply because the story remains strong in the arena of an action adventure, and it’s sense of style and technical proficiency has been unmatched all year.
The Last Samurai stars Tom Cruise (Minority Report) as Nathan Algren, a complex character whose experiences with the native americans has left him brooding in a terminal state of self loathing. However since his superiors are aware of his loss of cares they decide to make use of this trauma by hiring him to train an army in Japan to be ready for a battle against the guardians of the old ways; Japan’s legendary samurai warriors.
By the end of this armies first battle Nathan finds himself captured by the Samurai whose leader has become intrigued with this new enemy. Forced to stay in the samurai village by harsh winter conditions Nathan begins to observe them, becoming moved by their code of honour and deep sense of dedication, until eventually, in the village of his enemy, he discovers the inner peace that his life has been devoid of for too long.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that there are similarities there to Dances With Wolves. Yet I still disagree on it’s rip off label as The Last Samurai is a film about accepting responsibility for ones own actions. It’s not a new concept, and the film lacks the sheer profound depth of a Kurosawa masterpiece, but still remains an incredibly strong story full of complex characters, funny in all the right places, but never at the detriment to the serious drama that is being told.
What really grabbed me about the film was not its story though, but rather it was the stylish treatment that would have made Kurosawa himself proud. The first area I picked up on was the films cinematography. There’s one shot in particular; it was early in the film and saw the samurai riding out of the fog, that sent shivers down my spine. However later on Zwick’s amazing use of landscapes makes for some breathtaking scenes that upped the emotional resonance no end. I particularly liked the village that works as the center of the story. It’s mount Fiji backdrop (an amazing CGI effect) was absolutely gorgeous whether it was being complimented by blankets of either pink blossoms or white snow.
Hans Zimmer manages to compliment the cinematography again. His score is used throughout the film to really heighten the emotional resonance. Brimming just above the surface for the most part, before bursting forth into a different song as the action scenes break out. Zimmer at times literally takes away the need for dialogue since his emotionally resonant score has the ability to say more than words could ever truly convey.
Those 2 points really come together during the amazingly choreographed action scenes though. There’s one samurai Vs ninja sequence that really defines this, with hyper fast editing and extremely realistic effects that help to portray the absolutely uncontrollable nature of this violence. Some scenes involving military precision did manage to slow down, but most of the time it’s all about the visceral and decidedly brutal nature that such uncontrolable moments portray.
There are many surface details I could point out; the perfectly authentic costume work and the like, but I really do want to move forward and tell you about this films acting. I know a lot of people had a problem with Cruise; he is a superstar after all and people tend to be unable to let go of past works whenever a superstar is concerned. However I believe claims that he was playing himself are false. Cruise’s typical sure of himself character is nowhere to be found in Algran, a character who feels nothing but self loathing. During the early scenes Cruise drenches every line of dialogue in this self loathing, he makes jokes with bitter sarcasm and brings alive every nuance that defines Algran as a complex character.
Ken Watanabe (MacArthur’s Children); who plays The Last Samurai of the title, shares a great deal of chemistry with Cruise, but again shines even when he’s on his own. From the first moment that the character is introduced, through to the films finale, Watanabe uses his face to tell a thousand stories. His eyes convey more feelings, more ideas and more expressiveness than mere dialogue ever could. Plus when he is actually talking he has this ability to really draw you in with subtle tones in his voice, tones of pride, anger and even humour are all successfully given life by this incredibly talented actor.
Also Taka, the woman looking after Algren, is always polite, smiling and never saying a bad thing to his face, yet thanks to the performance by Koyuki (Spy Sorge) you can tell that the character is set to burst from all of her despair. It’s an excellent thing when a supporting cast member is not only capable, but dedicated enough to give a performance as honest as this, and in The Last Samurai you will find a lot of them.
In order to summarize this review all I can think of to say is that The Last Samurai is very much an old school samurai movie with modern battle sequences. It features action and drama, with well timed humour intermittently (especially Billy Connoly) that all comes together to produce what I will happily call One of the best films of 2003.
Disclaimer- this is a portion of a full DVD review that I posted on Epinions a few days ago.