2004-01-05

The G-man has wanted to see The Last Samurai ever since it arrived in our chilly little city, and although I demurred for a while, eventually the fact that there are only six screens in this town (combined with the fact that we'd already seen everything else because they are still playing Elf) made me break down and agree to see creepy old Tom Cruise in what I was sure was going to be a painful, boring movie.

Well, I'm not sure if it was the low expectations or what, but I found myself pleasantly surprised by The Last Samurai. The story was interesting, the non-Tom-Cruise actors were all very good and low-key, Tom Cruise was competent even though he was playing a 19th century version of the same character he ALWAYS plays, and the fight scenes were fascinating and compelling in their goriness.

The story starts in 1876 and centres around Captain Nathan Algren, who has come back from fighting what he sees as a spurious war against Native Americans. He's so disgusted by what he has seen and done in battle that he has become an unpleasant alcoholic who can barely keep himself from (intentionally) shooting his audience during the gun demonstrations he does for the Winchester company.

After getting himself fired from his Winchester gig, Algren finds himself being offered a job in Japan training Japanese soldiers in American-style battle techniques. The American government wants to gain sole rights to supplying Japan with arms, the Japanese Emperor wants to modernize his army, and Algren wants to make some money, so the next thing you know he's on the boat to Japan.

When he gets to Japan, things aren't quite what he thought they would be. To make a (very) long story short, our hero gets captured by the old-fashioned Samurai who, though small in number, are prepared to fight fiercely for their old way of life. The Samurai are fascinated by the tiny little American and his pluck and determination, and tiny little American is fascinated by the Samurai and their mental and physical discipline.

The movie is very long, but amazingly, it is also quite well paced. Don't get me wrong, my butt was getting sore by the end of the movie, but I was still interested in what was happening onscreen and I wanted to see the ending play out. I was also glad they didn't cheese out and have TC make out with the head Samurai's sister, who has to take him in as a guest, even though she doesn't want to. Of course anyone who has ever seen a movie before can tell that there has to be some kind of quietly growing attraction between them, yada yada, but at least they keep it realistic and non-cheesy. I also must put a special word in for the head Samurai, Katsumoto, played by Ken Watanabe. Not only was he ten times better looking than Tom Cruise, he was also a way better actor. I loved him and his sexy bald head.

The one weird thing about the movie was that it kept reminding me of other movies. For example, at the beginning of the movie, Tom Cruise's character reminded me of his character from Born on the Fourth of July--alcoholic, abusive ex-soldier. Then, while he's a captive trapped in the rural village with people of an unfamiliar culture, the situation reminded me of Witness (though TC is no Harrison Ford). Then at the very end, during the last battle scenes, it was like I was watching The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

Overall, I'd give it a thumbs up, especially since it had two strikes against it going in: Tom Cruise and a hideously long running time. OK Tom, you're off the hook again. Stop making movies like this and Minority Report so that I can go back to my unabashed disdain for you.

Posted by polarcanuck at 7:42 p.m.

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