“The Last Samurai” tells the story of a rebellious group of samurai who refused to put down their swords after the Emperor Meiji reclaimed control of Japan. The story is presented through the eyes of Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise, “Mission: Impossible”). After being hired to train the Japanese soldiers to use guns, Algren leads them into a battle against the samurai in an unprepared state.
The samurai, led by Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe, “Genji: A Thousand-Year Love”), easily defeat the soldiers. Algren fends off his opponents best as he can until he is taken down. Katsumoto takes him prisoner, partly to study his enemy, partly because he is impressed with Algren’s show of bravery.
I’m going to vent here for a minute, since it’s clear to me that most people don’t seem to realize that the word samurai has no plural form. So, the title is not in reference to Cruise’s character, but to the entire group of samurai, which by the end includes him.
This movie will quickly be compared to “Dances with Wolves” for its fish-out-of-water story in which a Westerner is placed in an Eastern culture that he doesn’t understand. There is one major difference, though — it’s not boring. The pacing is steady, making the two-and-a-half-hour film feel more like two. Cruise, unlike Costner’s character in “Wolves,” never has to be alone on screen.
As for Cruise, he does an excellent job, giving an emotional and understanding performance. The best part of the way Algren is represented is the fact that even at the end, he doesn’t understand the samurai completely. He knows this. He respects and admires what he sees in the Code of the Bushido, but never attempts to convince himself or the audience that he truly understands it.
The real powerhouse of the movie is Ken Watanabe. He portrays Katsumoto with a humanistic understanding of life and death. His performance is both powerful and subtle, commanding the screen in ways that haven’t been seen since Toshiro Mifune was the master of silver-screen warriors.
John Logan has written a fine script, with Ed Zwick directing another great epic that is equal to his “Glory.” What works best about this script is how many things stay Japanese and are not converted to the Hollywood standard, which they could have been.
A rivalry set up between Tony Goldwyn and Tom Cruise’s character could have kept the focus more on the white characters. This does not happen, since what could have been a major part of the climatic battle takes only a single shot.
The romance between Taka (Koyuki) and Algren does not go past more than a kiss. It is never about love, either, but honor and duty. The typical Hollywood epic would have played this into a major plot line, but here it is kept to very subtle looks and glances. This is to be commended, for few Westerners have been able to duplicate it.
The cinematography depicts the lives of the samurai through a captivating visual style. The time Algren spends at the village is shot like many of the Japanese prints of the time. It is colorful, still and peaceful. The battle scenes juxtapose with this nicely, being rapid, fast, and brutal. This shows the contradictions of the samurai way of life.
The movie tries to show that honor is something we lack these days, and that Western life is responsible for stomping it out. It is not war that is glorified here, but the code by which the samurai live. Katsumoto is not fighting for the old ways, but for a world where the old ways can still exist with the new.
If the movie fails anywhere, it’s at the end. It becomes a little too Hollywood, but not as bad as it could have been. On some level, it does work, as it becomes clear that, even after fighting beside them, Algren does not fully understand the samurai. In the end, it may be better that he didn’t, since most Westerners have not been able to.
Still, as an epic film, “The Last Samurai” delivers. It should tide most over until “The Return of the King.”
Grade: A
