Today I got to watch something I'd been anticipating for some time - the new Tom Cruise title, The Last Samurai. I had high hopes for the film, and I expected something that looked expensive yet was story-driven.

Well, during the first few scenes you're tricked into believing this may not be another ridiculously commercial Hollywood product. Just as I was about to become disappointed the special effects, grand battle scenes, climactic orchestral score and clichés started showing up (after about 3 minutes).

And, as I had hoped, it was pretty good.

A band of Samurai led by a legendary ex-general of the Imperial army, Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), fight to rid Japan of western influence, while the Emperor's councilors have plans to exterminate their resistance movement. Cruise's character, a (US) Civil War officer, is brought in to train the Imperial army in the use of modern weapons (firearms), but after being captured by the rebels he sees that he's fighting on the wrong side.

The story gets, duh, predictable, as do the emotional scenes, but that's what a movie like this is all about. It’s a classic "forget about life for a couple hours" flick. And it's epic. No, not nearly as true to classic samurai movies as Kill Bill is. But then again, The Last Samurai is a great example of what Hollywood is pasteurizing nowadays.

Wow, totally the opposite of yesterday's Lost In Translation, yet it's the second Japan-related film in two days. I like Lost better than Last. Why don’t they make some movies about China? posted by lawrence at 02:38 AM