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The
Last Samurai
 This
epic starring Tom
Cruise is not terrible and tells the story of a drunken civil
war hero who goes to Japan and ends up living amongst the Samurai
who are falling out of favor with the rapidly modernizing government
due to the fact that they tend to charge around on horseback lopping
off heads. The so called last Samurai, played with appropriate
coolness by Ken
Watanabe resides in a scenic mountain village replete with
cherry blossoms and gurgling brooks and appears a very spiritual man
as he adopts Tom's character for some reason and allows him to be
nurtured by his sister never minding the fact that it was Cruise
that killed her husband. This particular Samurai also speaks English
which is convenient and slowly allows Tom to study the warrior ways
and become one with his sword and fighting stick. They then head
back into battle against the emperor's army led by some of Tom's old
war cronies despite the fact that they only have swords and bows and
arrows and face an army with cannons, Gatling guns, and many, many more
men. They get mowed down to a man of course except for Tom who walks
away nearly unscathed. The fight scenes are incredible tributes to
choreography and special effects and the costumes and other visuals are
stunning at times but overall the movie has too many lame parts to
be considered any sort of success. The violent history of the real
Samurai is never acknowledged and Tom's death defying histrionics
are as unbelievable as they are overblown. Tom's love interest,
played by Japanese model Koyuki
(above) is easy on the eyes but never develops as a character, and
the historical significance of it all is not given enough
explanation. Not a bad way to spend a couple hours if you don't mind
taking in spraying blood, chopped body parts, occasional subtitles and
Cruise's intent stares.
Rating: 
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