THE LAST SAMURAI (kind of spoilers)

I'm back after a long commitment to exams, soon to be resumed. Just popped in to see how everyone's doing, and to share my latest movie obsession: it's only The Last Samurai! Totally rocks!

I was totally overwhelmed when leaving the theatre, and that AWESOME ninja attack on the samurai village didn't do anything to calm my senses!

Just wanted to know who else has seen this and their opinions.

 

SICK!

 

Hehe...yup! Vomit left, right and centre! /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

Movie of 2003, easily.

I loved every second of it. I got teary-eyed during the last battle. hehe

 

i disagree. everything was great until the last part when cruise suddenly barged in the emperor's house. then the emperor stopped everything that was going on just to hear what tom cruise was going to say. pretty unbelievable. and o ya, it takes years to become a decent samurai... i guess tom was special? lol.

i'd say lord of the rings is the movie of 2003. my two cents =).

 

I thought it was OK, nothing more. It put me in mind of Dances with Wolves mixed with Braveheart, but wasn't as good as either.

Why can't hollywood directors tackle non-american material without implanting an American hero character in the middle of it all? The film completely re-wrote the history of Japan's samurai. It failed to mention the fact that Japan wanted rid of the samurai because they wanted to invade Korea, despite the best interests of the rest of the country.

It took the absolute piss when Tom Cruise's character assumes command of the last group of Japan's samurai, and bestows upon them American "kick-ass" attitude and military tactics. *cringe*

I'd imagine people in Japan who know anything about the history of their country will be reeling at this wank. Good acting from Cruise however.

 

He was with them for several years if I'm not mistaken...no less than a year-and-a-half...

 

one thing i didn't understand was, why was the emperor such a wussy seriously, he didn't posses any special knowledge of anything--no cunning what so ever
HOW DID HE BECOME LE EMPEROR??
i kno, im crazy /versus/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

You really don't shit about Japan after all do you Noobie. /versus/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

guess not /versus/images/graemlins/crazy.gif but is that culture?or something, plz enlighten me

 

I personally loved this film. Moreso than ROTK (LOTR3). And that's a big note, considering that I'm a relatively huge Tolkien fan.

First, Tom Cruise can be an arse, but if he wants to be, he also be a damn good actor. (Rain Man, Jerry McGuire, this film).

2nd, the film is historical fiction, and as most Japanese historical fiction, it does exaggerete the nobility, the skills, and the weaponry of the samurai, but it is closely based on the life of Saigo Takamori http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saigo_Takamori , who is obviously Kasumoto in the film. All the other characters are pretty much fictional, save perhaps the Emperor. rustybolt, you are born an Emperor, there's little merit to it. The film's setting, the costumes, etc, are very, very accurate to the timeperiod (late 1870s, Japan), EXCEPT for the stupid ninjas. Look, ninjas are cool, but those ninjas in the film are so out of place, and purely western fiction. Ninjas probably didn't even exist in the 1870s. Now if they were doing 10 ft tosses and dragon punches, they might have been more credible. /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

3rd, the action, outside the aforementioned ninja fantasy, is seemed pretty authentic to me. Particularly when Tom Cruise was training (and getting his ass kicked). About Tom Cruise's character becoming so proficient so quickly, particularly with the musashi 2 blade style -yeah, bit of fiction there. But he was an accomplished with the saber previously (early in the film, he tries to use the katana like a saber- very nice touch there), and he is a decorated war hero. So it's not like he's learning combat from scratch.

 

[ QUOTE ]
aznricemasta said:

i disagree. everything was great until the last part when cruise suddenly barged in the emperor's house. then the emperor stopped everything that was going on just to hear what tom cruise was going to say. pretty unbelievable. and o ya, it takes years to become a decent samurai... i guess tom was special? lol.

i'd say lord of the rings is the movie of 2003. my two cents =).

[/ QUOTE ]

Although Algren (Cruise) was far from an actual Samurai, he had nonetheless earned the respect and friendship of Katsumoto. The emperor, who had a long-standing student-teacher/father-son relationship with Katsumoto wanted to know about his former master's last years.

 

[ QUOTE ]
rustybolt21 said:

one thing i didn't understand was, why was the emperor such a wussy seriously, he didn't posses any special knowledge of anything--no cunning what so ever
HOW DID HE BECOME LE EMPEROR??
i kno, im crazy /versus/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

It was his birth-right. And he was just a teenage boy.

 

[ QUOTE ]
agios_katastrof said:

I personally loved this film. Moreso than ROTK (LOTR3). And that's a big note, considering that I'm a relatively huge Tolkien fan.

First, Tom Cruise can be an arse, but if he wants to be, he also be a damn good actor. (Rain Man, Jerry McGuire, this film).

2nd, the film is historical fiction, and as most Japanese historical fiction, it does exaggerete the nobility, the skills, and the weaponry of the samurai, but it is closely based on the life of Saigo Takamori http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saigo_Takamori , who is obviously Kasumoto in the film. All the other characters are pretty much fictional, save perhaps the Emperor. rustybolt, you are born an Emperor, there's little merit to it. The film's setting, the costumes, etc, are very, very accurate to the timeperiod (late 1870s, Japan), EXCEPT for the stupid ninjas. Look, ninjas are cool, but those ninjas in the film are so out of place, and purely western fiction. Ninjas probably didn't even exist in the 1870s. Now if they were doing 10 ft tosses and dragon punches, they might have been more credible. /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

3rd, the action, outside the aforementioned ninja fantasy, is seemed pretty authentic to me. Particularly when Tom Cruise was training (and getting his ass kicked). About Tom Cruise's character becoming so proficient so quickly, particularly with the musashi 2 blade style -yeah, bit of fiction there. But he was an accomplished with the saber previously (early in the film, he tries to use the katana like a saber- very nice touch there), and he is a decorated war hero. So it's not like he's learning combat from scratch.

[/ QUOTE ]

I reckon Tom's always been a severely underrated actor, and has often been passed off as a Hollywood 'pretty boy'. He's so much more.

There are only a few people in the industry who can match his sheer screen presence and on-screen charisma and intensity. He's a 41 year old, experienced veteren of an actor.

He rocks.