The Last Samurai
I remember reading somewhere that making movies is a much more complicated form of story telling, and it takes the effort of many men to make it a good entertaining one. With this in mind, I have to say that The Last Samurai does not fail to deliver.
Coming back to my first reactions on seeing the posters and publicity was this is just another Hollywood movie where an American comes over to the Japos and shows their Samurai how to fight. Well, guilty I am of myopia.
This movie is probably one of the best I have seen in the last four months. The action, story, screenplay, all these combine to create one exceptional story, by the end of which I was having that feeling of having something stuck in my throat. It is the kind of movie which makes one want to grab his friends and tell them ’’Go watch it!’’.
Tom Cruise is at his usual best in his role of an US Army captain who is mentally beleagured by the ravageous and the bloody nature of his career. When he gets his next assignment to train the Modern Japanese army, he feels remorse, and concludes ’’It seems this is the only job I am good for..’’. From there, the story really takes of into ancient Japan, suffering turbulent times in the Emperor’s wish to see a Modern Japan, which he idealises in Western clothing, styles, and other manners.
These moves of the emperor is being resisted by the Emperor’s own right hand man, Katsumoto who leads the Samurai of his country in a battle against these forces of Modernisation. I guess this is suficient, and it is time for me to stop bringing out the details of the story. Watch it and find out. Believe me, you will not be disappointed in any way.
Enjoy!