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The Last Samurai
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The Last Samurai
Action/Adventure
2 hrs. 24 min. Set in the late 1870s, this epic film depicts the beginnings
of the modernization of Japan, as the island nation evolved past a feudal
society, as symbolized by the eradication of the samurai way of life.
We see all this happen from the point of view of an alcoholic Civil War
veteran turned Winchester guns spokesman, Captain Woodrow Algren (Cruise),
who arrives in Japan to train the troops of the emperor, Meiji, as part
of a break away from the long-held tradition of relying on employed samurai
warriors to protect territories, as the emperor's new army prepares to
wipe out the remaining samurai warriors. When Algren is injured in combat
and captured by the samurai, he learns about their warrior honor code
from their leader, Katsumoto, which forces him to decide which side of
the conflict he actually wants to be on.
Release Date: December 5, 2003.
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and battle sequences.
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Movie Mom's Review
For better and worse, this is what Hollywood knows how to do -- a grand
and eminently watchable epic with no expense spared, ambitious in scope,
thoughtful in execution. If it is not particularly original or meaningful,
and if it is a bit too careful, at least it avoids some of the usual pitfalls.
It includes some outstanding action scenes and some memorable performances.
But it never makes us care enough about the conflicts it portrays -- those
between the warring factions or those within the leading character.
Tom Cruise plays Nathan Algren, a Civil War veteran reduced to whiskey-soaked
exhibitions for a gun manufacturer. He feels irredeemably corrupted by
atrocities in fighting the Indians and has lost any sense of honor. When
he is offered a job to train Japanese soldiers in modern fighting techniques,
he does not car whose side he will be on. "For 500 bucks a month,
I'll kill whoever you want," he tells his former commanding officer
(Tony Goldwyn). "But keep one thing in mind. I'd happily kill you
for free." He is still haunted by a raid that killed civilian Indians
and admits to himself, "I have been hired to suppress the rebellion
of yet another tribal leader." But it is the only job for which he
is suited. The sustaining force of honor, dignity, and meaning are gone
and all that is left is skill for which he no longer has any respect.
"I am beset by the ironies of my life."
Algren is lost in the gulf between his ideals and the world he sees around
him.
In Japan, he meets Simon Graham (Timothy Spall), an expatriate Englishman
who serves as his translator and our exposition-provider ("I have
a tendency to tell the truth in a country where no one ever says what
they mean. So now I translate other people's lies.") Graham helpfully
lets us know that "The ancient and the modern are at war for the
soul of Japan."
Algren goes to work training soldiers in modern tactics so that they can
defeat a samurai rebellion led by Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe). Against his
best judgment, the troops are sent in against the samurai too soon. They
are defeated, and Algren is captured.
Rebellion is in the eye of the beholder. Algren learns that the samurai
believe that they, not the troops Algren who has been training, who are
doing what the emperor needs. He is impressed and ultimately moved by
them. "From the moment they wake, they devote themselves to perfection
of whatever they do." Algren -- or at least the man he once was --
has more in common with the samurai, who live a life of "service,
discipline, and compassion," than he has with any of his peers. That
includes a Miniver Cheevy-ian sense of being born in the wrong time. But
it also includes all the honor and self-respect that Algren left behind
when he followed orders he despised. Instead of training troops to fight
the rebellion, Algren is trained by the samurai in the ancient arts, which
include not just fighting but living.
The movie's greatest strength is its scope. Just as Algren admires the
idea of spending a life searching for a perfect blossom, director/co-author
Edward Zwick imbues every part of the screen with respect, even majesty.
The epic reach of the movie is grounded in committed and thoughtful performances,
especially Wantanabe and Koyuki as Taka, his sister. Cruise delivers his
usual performance, sincere and loaded with movie star charisma. His mastery
of the samurai fighting techniques is impressive but his acting shows
us nothing we have not seen from him before.
The movie's greatest weakness is that not every part of the screen is
due that level of respect. It may be more fair to give both sides of the
story, but it interferes with our commitment to the outcome. We know that
Algren's commanding officer is not a good guy and that the emperor is
a weak guy advised by a greedy guy, and that Katsumoto is a good guy.
But we never understand the substance of the conflict well enough to take
sides. One side may be corrupt, but it is grappling with the inevitable
in engaging with modernity. The other side may have honor and dignity,
but in embracing its own extenction it seems to have forgotten how to
do anything but fight, no matter what the consequences to its community.
And the last 20 minutes or so are disappointingly formulaic, undercutting
the power of everything that went before and teetering into the "movie
that is ostensibly about the non-whites but turns out to be about the
white guy who gets paid the big bucks" category.
Parents should know that this movie has extreme and graphic violence with
many grisy wounds and a lot of blood. Many charactrs are killed, including
some we have come to care about. Parents should especially be aware of
the way that this movie portrays the traditional samurai notion of suicide
as an honorable choice in the event of a defeat. The movie also includes
some strong language, alcohol abuse, smoking, and sexual references. One
of the movie's strengths is its respect for the Japanese culture and its
portrayal of strong and respectful relationships between people of different
races and cultures.
Families who see this movie should talk about what it means to say that
"A man does what he can until his destiny is revealed." Why
was Algren able to find redemption in Japan and not in the United States?
How did he know which side he was on? Who won that last battle? Why? What
is important to know about your enemy? Given the inevitability of changing
times and technologies, how do you know what you should change or adapt
to and what you must hold on to?
Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy Glory, by the same director,
and also Dances with Wolves, Braveheart, Henry V, and The Seven Samurai.
They can check here and here for more information on the battle of Thermopylae
and here for more information on 19th century samurai warriors.
Release Date: December 5th, 2003
(wide); bumped up a week from December 12th, 2003
Sneak Previews: Saturday, November 29th, 2003
Awards: #2 Film of the Year, Best Director (2003 National Board of Review)
Language: English, with some scenes in Japanese with English subtitles.
MPAA Rating: R (for strong violence and battle sequences)
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Distributor Note: Warner Bros. considers this film one of their five
major tentpoles of 2003, along with The Matrix: Reloaded, Terminator 3:
Rise of the Machines, The Matrix: Revolutions and Looney Tunes: Back in
Action.
Production Company: Radar Pictures (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Riddick:
Pitch Black 2), Bedford Falls (Lone Star State of Mind, Abandon) (director
Edward Zwick's production company), Cruise-Wagner Productions (Shattered
Glass, Suspect Zero) (Tom Cruise's production company with Paula Wagner)
Cast: Tom Cruise (Captain Woodrow Algren), Ken Watanabe (Katsumoto),
Billy Connolly (Sgt. Zebulah Gant), Tony Goldwyn (Col. Benjamin Bagley),
Timothy Spall (Simon Graham), William Atherton, Seizo Fukomoto (The Silent
Samurai), Masato Harada (Ohmura), Togo Igawa (Hasegawa), Sosuke Ikematsu,
Shin Koyamada (Yoritomo), John Koyama (Omura's Bodyguard), Koyuki (Taka),
Aoi Minato, Shichinosuke Nakamura (The Emperor), Hiroyuki Sanada (Uijo),
Shun Sugata (Nakao), Scott Wilson
Cast Notes: (2/26/03) One of Tom Cruise's costars in this movie is Togo
Igawa, who previously worked with the star in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide
Shut, in which he played one of the two nearly naked Japanese businessmen
caught frolicking with the underwear-clad teenager played by Leelee Sobieski.
Swordwork Note: (7/20/02) Tom Cruise is being trained in Japanese-style
swordwork for the film by "sword master" Nick Powell, who also
trained Russell Crowe for Gladiator, the cast of The Mummy and Mel Gibson
in Braveheart.
Director: Edward Zwick (Legends of the Fall, Courage Under Fire, Glory,
About Last Night..., The Siege)
Screenwriter: John Logan (Star Trek: Nemesis, The Time Machine, Bats;
cowriter of Any Given Sunday; he's also got The Aviator on the way and
Gladiator 2 in development), Marshall Herskovitz (feature debut) and Ed
Zwick (cowriter of The Siege)
Similar Projects Notes: (7/20/02) There's another project in development,
at New Regency and John Davis Entertainment, which would be distributed
by 20th Century Fox, that also has the title of "The Last Samurai",
and a similar premise. That project would also focus on a Civil War veteran,
scarred by the trauma of war, who travels to Japan as a mercenary, but
the difference is that in this one, he teams up with a samurai who helps
him find inner peace (basically, this film's hero is on the other side
of the conflict than in Cruise's movie). At this point, if it ever does
get made, it's likely to do so with a new title. (11/12/03) Another "similar
project" has come to light in the form of a lawsuit of "unfair
labor practice" charges being filed by writer Garner Simmons (he's
mostly worked on TV shows like 'Poltergeist: The Legacy'), who claims
this project was inspired by his 1992 script called 'West of the Rising
Sun.' Simmons' dispute with the WGA is that they refused to arbitrate
his claim as they do with many other screenwriting crediting issues.
Not Based Upon: This movie is not based upon the novel, "The Last
Samurai", by Helen DeWitt, which was published in 2000 by Talk Miramax.
Civil War Veteran Note: (7/20/02) Curiously enough, Tom Cruise signed
on to this project to play a Civil War veteran after dropping out of Cold
Mountain, in which he would've also played a Civil War veteran, on the
long journey home after the war. Jude Law signed on for that role instead.
Premise: Set in the late 1870s, this epic film depicts the beginnings
of the modernization of Japan, as the island nation evolved past a feudal
society, as symbolized by the eradication of the samurai way of life.
We see all this happen from the point of view of an alcoholic Civil War
veteran turned Winchester guns spokesman, Captain Woodrow Algren (Cruise),
who arrives in Japan to train the troops of the emperor, Meiji, as part
of a break away from the long-held tradition of relying on employed samurai
warriors to protect territories, as the emperor's new army prepares to
wipe out the remaining samurai warriors. When Algren is injured in combat
and captured by the samurai, he learns about their warrior honor code
from their leader, Katsumoto, which forces him to decide which side of
the conflict he actually wants to be on... (Spall plays Algren's translator;
Connolly plays a friend of Algren's who acquired a limp in the war; Goldwyn
plays Algren's commanding officer who recruits him to go to Japan.)
Filming: Production started on October 10th, 2002 at locations in Japan,
before then transitioning to sets in New Plymouth, New Zealand, where
most of the filming will take place, on a budget of around $100 million.
There will also be some filming on sets on the Warner Bros. studio lot
in Los Angeles (Burbank). The Japanese shooting will be mostly in Kyoto
and at Himeji Castle. The base of the New Zealand filming will be the
Taranaki region on the west coast of NZ's North Island (with Mt. Taranaki
standing in as Japan's Mt. Fujiama). Filming wrapped up on May 9th, 2003.
Genre: Action, Eye Candy, Historical
Script Reviews: The Stax Report, AICN, Screenwriters Utopia, TNMC.org
(all are positive)
Watch the Japanese Teaser Trailer: ComingSoon.net
Watch the Teaser Trailer: Apple.com
Official Site: LastSamurai.com
Source: Yahoo
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Greg's Preview Thoughts:
Sort: By Most Recent | Chronologically
5/18/03 - The teaser trailer is now in theaters and online over at Apple.com,
and I think it does a great job of introducing the movie, even if it's
a little vague (as a teaser can be) about why exactly Tom Cruise is fighting
in Japan, etc. One thing the teaser *does* accomplish, I think, is that
it clearly shows the difference between the Samurai warriors and the black-uniformed
soldiers who look like they're from 100 years in the future (in comparison).
That juxtaposition most likely helps make the film seem as sad as it is
probably intended.
4/15/03 - The Japanese teaser trailer (which mostly just shows close-ups
of Tom Cruise in the middle of a sword fight) is now online over at ComingSoon.net.
The teaser has both English and Japanese text, so it's definitely still
easy to watch.
1/14/03 - Dark Horizons reports that the teaser for this film was unveiled
recently at an event in New Zealand. Follow that link (and scroll to the
bottom) for a description of what the folks there saw.
7/20/02 - Tom Cruise won his first (of three thus far) Golden Globe for
his portrayal of an alcoholic Vietnam War veteran in Oliver Stone's Born
on the Fourth of July, but Oscar gold has eluded him thus far. A major
factor is that much of his work in the last several years has been in
action movies (the Mission: Impossible movies, Minority Report) or darkly-themed
dramas and thrillers (Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia, Vanilla Sky) that are
just not the Academy's traditional cup of tea. They do, however, like
grand historical epics, which is a genre that Cruise has only tried once
before, with Nicole Kidman, in 1992's Far and Away.
There's also a renewed interest in all things Asian, though mostly, China
has been getting most of the attention; there haven't been many Japanese
samurai epics to make it to American theaters since Akira Kurosawa died.
And so, Tom has signed on to star in and produce this sweeping tale of
how a country abandoned its roots in pursuit of becoming a major international
power and economic powerhouse, even as the seeds laid in the 1870s would
eventually cause Japan to go to war 70 years later with the very country,
the United States, that helped them make that transition (or at least,
that's one popular, Western-leaning, perspective). Or put it another way,
this project feels like a blend inspired by equal parts Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon (except Japanese instead of Chinese) and Dances with Wolves;
the white man's lament about the death of the cultures his technology
and cash-driven expansion (or in Japan's case, influence) lays to waste.
The trade articles, and other Internet pieces, about this project make
quite a big deal about director Edward Zwick's resume including the Civil-War
drama, Glory, but my instinct tells me that this film has more symbolically
in common with Zwick's not-quite-as-adored Legends of the Fall (I should
note that I disagree with the popular sentiment; between the two, I prefer
LotF over Glory). Although Legends... is set a few decades later than
this film (the years before and after World War I), they both feature
Civil War veterans battling with the ghosts of the war years later.
Warner Bros. is positioning this as their highest-profile December, 2003
release, no doubt hoping that the fairly-massive budget, combined with
Hollywood's (arguably) biggest star and martial arts/swordplay action
scenes will ensure both commercial success, and awards acclaim as well.
Interestingly, their biggest competition on both counts might be MGM/Miramax's
Cold Mountain, another post-Civil-War epic, that Cruise had long been
in talks to star in, before the role went to Jude Law instead.
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