The Last Samurai is an entertaining action adventure drama that was much better than expected. Writer/Director Edward Zwick is admirable in making this action adventure epic tale about Nathan Algren a disillusioned Civil War Captain who goes to Japan to fight the Samurai and instead ends up pledging himself to their cause. Tom Cruise stars as Algren and he turns in probably one of his best performances to date. In recent years he's been getting a lot of crap from the press because of his behavior but Tom Cruise proves to still be a talented actor none the less with this film. Cruise immerses himself into the character Algren who goes through a major transformation and he certainly shows his range as an actor. Well done. Ken Watanabe is equally impressive as Katsumoto, a Samurai leader facing a vanishing way of life, whose destiny becomes intertwined with that of the American Captain. Watanabe proves his talent as an actor giving audiences such a well rounded character in Katsumoto who eventually gains your sympathy because you know this man is willing to die in order to protect his people. Watanabe had nice chemistry with Cruise which really showed on the screen making their growing friendship and respect for each other very believable. Timothy Spall is convincing as Simon Graham a cynical Britich translator in his limited screen time who helps Algren in his quest. He provides a little comic relief from time to time that lightened up the serious mood of the film. Tony Goldwyn does a pretty good job as the villain Lieutenant Colonel Bagley whom Algren deeply hates despite not being given a whole lot to do in his short screen time. Goldwyn does what his role requires though. Billy Connolly does the best he can with his small part as Algren's old army colleague Zeb Grant whose written out rather quickly but like Goldwyn he does a decent job with his brief role in the film. The rest of the cast including the family Algren stays with while among the Samurai and the men who them played all turn in exceptional performances. The epic battle sequences are well executed/paced, intense, and realistic giving audiences a look at what warfare was probably like back then. For a film that's 154 minutes I was worried it would feel overlong like (Artifical Intelligence, There Will Be Blood, or Avatar to name a few) but the story kept my interest making the running time fly by at a steady pace. It's one of those rare two and half hours movies (with the exception of The Departed, The Dark Knight, and Blood Diamond which were about just as long but kept me entertained throughout it's running time) that I can watch easily without getting bored because the film pulls you in with a compelling story and interesting characters. In a way The Last Samurai shares similarities with most recently Avatar but I thought it was much better handled in this one than James Cameron's overlong sci-fi action adventure which was a letdown considering the hype built around it at least to me. The Last Samurai has some flaws the good however more than outweighs the bad with this one. A few characters (Connolly and Goldwyn particular) sort of get the short end of the stick development wise but I guess they're in a long enough so you know a little bit about them. Other than that though there wasn't too much I didn't enjoy about this film. Also worth mentioning is the music by Hans Zimmer which fit the tone of the film perfectly and was full of emotion. The location they chose for the setting was beautiful. It added so much with very little CG which they blended into the story seamlessly without going overboard on the effects (A mistake I feel Tranformers 2 made). Overall The Last Samurai is a well made action adventure drama epic that was much better than I anticipated. It's now one of the my all time favorite films along with The Dark Knight, The Departed, Batman Begins, and Blood Diamond to name a couple which were all epics in their own way. If you're looking for a good entertaining movie to watch than you can't go wrong with the Last Samurai. It has character development, just enough of intense action, drama, some suspense, a little humor, and impressive performances by the cast (especially Cruise and Watanabe) who make this film worth the time to watch. You won't be disappointed with this one.
Review of The Last Samurai
