Film Review: The Last Samurai
Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe Impress in Edward Zwick’s Samurai Movie
Dec 22, 2008
Around 1877 the Emperor and government of Japan felt the need to modernise their army and, oddly, decided to hunt for the man capable of the job in a hokey Wild West show in San Francisco. This slightly implausible decision could easily have led to The Last Samurai concentrating on the role of the Americans rather than the detailed actual happening of the Samurai revolt. Indeed the Hollywoodisation of history seemed complete when Lieutenant Colonel Bagley (Tony Goldwyn) declared that ‘Japan has got it in mind to be a civilised country’. However, this comment actually marked a turning point in the tone of the film as director Edward Zwick takes the unusual step of swiping at American imperialism and clearly favouring the traditional way of life of the Samurai.
The Last Samurai
Tom Cruise stars as Nathan Algren, a washed up drunk of a US Cavalry officer, traumatised by his role in the slaughter of innocent Native Americans, who now makes a living entertaining the crowds at gun rallies with his stories. It’s really sort of amazing that Michael Moore didn’t turn up with an anti-Charlton Heston sermon at this point. Algren is persuaded to leave his showbiz life behind and go to Japan to help train their army in Western fighting methods (accompanied by both Lieutenant Colonel Bagley and Billy Connelly’s Zebulon Gant).
After a few months training it becomes clear to Algren that the army is not ready for battle but the weedy Emperor, heavily influenced by his money hungry advisors, sends them to fight the Samurai anyway. Algren is captured during the battle but his life is spared by the Samurai leader Katsumoto, who then has the dubious idea of imprisoning Algren in the house of a woman whose husband he killed in the battle. Algren spends the winter with the Samurai, becoming increasingly drawn to their culture, mastering their fighting techniques (the booze having apparently not affected his hand/eye coordination) and generally impressing everyone with his fine nature.
Cast
Nathan Algren is something of a departure from the usual all-American characters that Tom Cruise plays and he throws himself wholeheartedly into the role. Kudos Tom, kudos. As a drunk he is slightly questionable but he pulls off the fighting scenes and rampant philosophising surprisingly well, only resorting to flicking his hair from his eyes and gazing purposely off into space on a couple of occasions.
The true star of the film thought is Ken Watanabe as Katsumoto, the wise and fearless leader of Samurai. Watanabe brilliantly captures the difficult situation that Katsumoto faces as he must choose between loyalty to his Emperor and loyalty to the traditions that he cares deeply about.
Timothy Spall bumbles along nicely as Simon Graham, unlikely hero and ally of Algren, while Tony Goldwyn is fine as Bagley, the caricature of a heartless colonel. Billy Connelly effectively played Billy Connelly. In fact, he may well have wondered in from the set of Mrs Brown without a change of wardrobe or character.
Summary
The Last Samurai is beautifully shot, earnest in its message and, despite some dodgy characterisations and an ending which could have had far more impact, is really rather a pleasure to watch.
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