On 2010-02-16 Chrijeff, Scranton, PA wrote: This epic swashbuckler is also the story of a man´s search for peace and meaning, with a debt to both Dances with Wolves - Extended Cut (Two-Disc Collector´s Edition) and James Clavell´s Shogun. It´s 1876, bare months after Custer´s Last Stand, and Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), a survivor of the Seventh Cavalry, is working as a huckster for the Winchester rifle company and doing his best to drown himself in drink. Like Frank Hopkins of Hidalgo (Widescreen Edition), he´s tormented by memories of an attack on a camp of peaceable Indians--and quite ready to kill the C.O. (Tony Goldwyn) who ordered it. When his old sergeant, Zebulon Gant (Billy Connelly), finds him and suggests the existence of a job just suited to him, he´s intrigued, but his old Colonel´s presence on the team does nothing for his enthusiasm. The money does: $500 a month to travel to Japan, where the young Emperor Meiji (Shichinosuke Nakamura) has embarked upon a program to unify his country and bring in Western technology, and there help train the Imperial Army to fight a rebellious Samurai lord named Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe). The Army turns out to be a ragtag band of conscripts that breaks in terror when it first faces the rebels, leaving Algren and Gant virtually alone, and when Gant is killed Algren goes berserk. Katsumoto is deeply impressed by his fighting, and when Algren collapses, wounded and exhausted, he refuses to permit the American to be slain; instead, he takes him along as a prisoner, hoping to ´understand our new enemy.´ Slowly recovering his strength in the Samurai stronghold, Algren is at first little impressed by the Samurai ethos, but slowly he begins to realize the genuineness of their dedication and spirituality; always a quick study, he learns to speak Japanese and becomes so expert with the wooden practice swords that he fights Katsumoto´s best warrior, Ujio (Jiroyuki Sanada), to a draw; and slowly he begins to understand that the Samurai, like the Indians, are fighting for their way of life. A strange friendship grows up between him and Katsumoto, and Algren also finds himself attracted to his host´s sister, whose husband he killed in the battle. When the Emperor offers Katsumoto a safe-conduct to Tokyo, Algren goes there with him and is ready to leave the country, but on learning that the Samurai has been arrested and condemned to death, he engineers a daring plan to free him, and joins him in one last glorious but futile stand against the forces of modernity.
Algren isn´t always a likeable character, but he´s very human and comprehensible, and Cruise portrays with sensitivity and believability his slow conversion to the Samuari cause. (The film is based on fact: curious viewers might want to consult Wikipedia´s article on the Meiji Restoration to see how it all began and what effects it had on later Japanese history, including the country´s character today.) Hans Zimmer´s thunderous score The Last Samurai and the excellently choreographed duel and battle scenes are pluses, and while the movie is rated R for violence, discreet and creative camerawork prevents any really shocking or disgusting sequences. This ´romantic vision of a lost world,´ as Time Magazine called it, will impress you and stay with you.. And summed up by saying Japan, and a man, at the crossroads. Currently The Last Samurai (Two-Disc Special Edition) has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
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Edward Zwick claimed Epic Action Drama. Set in Japan during the 1870s, The Last Samurai tells the story of Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), a respected American military officer hired by the Emperor of Japan to train the country´s first army in the art of modern warfare. As the Emperor attempts to eradicate the ancient Imperial Samurai warriors in preparation for more Westernized and trade-friendly government policies, Algren finds himself unexpectedly impressed and influenced by his encounters with the Samurai, which places him at the center of a struggle between two eras and two worlds, with only his own sense of honor to guide him.DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Commentary by Edward ZwickDVD ROM FeaturesDeleted Scenes:The Beheading (Behind the Beheading) Algren and Katsumoto Documentaries:History vs. Hollywood: The Last Samurai {History Channel Documentary)Featurette:Tom Cruise: A Warrior´s Journey Edward Zwick: Director´s Video Journal {Behind-the-scenes production journal - narrated by Ed Zwick and Tom Cruise A World of Detail: Production Design with Lilly Kilvert Silk and Armor: Costume Design with Ngila Dickson Imperial Army Basic Training: From Soldier to Samurai: The Weapons Interviews:Making an Epic: A Conversation with Edward ZwickOther:Japan Premieres {Tokyo & Kyoto red carpet)
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