The Last Samurai

[Thecowgoooesmooo]

Yea, this movie was fun in theatres, and I might buy it just for the acting mainly and for the nice visuals....




chris

[Find Your Magali]

The worst thing I thought about the film, was the ending. Edward Zwick had a great ending for Glory, not only was it moving, it was just an amazing note to end on.

Absolutely. Such an amazing movie. One of my all-time favorites. And every damn character gets wiped out at the end. How did he ever get that to fly with the studio?

[coffeebeetle]

Um, Nathan didn't die...

[Redlum]

Pleasantly suprised. I was a bit harsh on this film upon seeing the trailers. It seemed like Tom Cruises's Gladiator to me. Having seen the film for real now, Im impressed. I'm always warmed by films about virtues such as honour, especially Japanese ones (or those set in Japan) probably because I wish that given the righ circumstances I would possess them. I thought this was a highly enjoyable film which could have been improved quite considerably if 'they'(I assume executive influence too, cowgoesmoo) had had the guts to kill Cruise. In fact my two only problems with the film are 'kill Nathan' and the 'they're not ready scene' (which could have worked if they had developed the true extent of his guilt by that point). Apart from that, I'll just say I'm really glad I saw it today.

[Sanjuro]

it seems to be that i am the last to see anything (schedules here where im from really sucks) but i just had to say again...

good blockbuster movie... it such a cop out movie but the kurosawa elements  made it better than other blockbuster movies... some of his use of kurosawa though didnt seem to work for me (bob, the old man watching over him, dying).

what i really liked about this movie was the pacing.  this is the best thing he was able to incorporate from a kurosawa film cause it worked really well.  i liked how he slowed things down just like kurosawa does.

but yeah i hate that it was such blockbuster cop out

[Fernando]

Saw it last weekend, I wasn't expecting much so it turned out really good, it was actually the first Cruise film in years that I wasn't waiting for, mainly because of Ed Zwick, but now I'll go as far as to say it's one of the best films of the year; having said that, I still have to see Lost in Traslation, American Splendor, In America, Cold Mountain, Big Fish, Elephant, Gerry, thirteen, Monster, and the list goes on and on...

[Sanjuro]

I still have to see Lost in Traslation, American Splendor, In America, Cold Mountain, Big Fish, Elephant, Gerry, thirteen, Monster, and the list goes on and on...

yupp same here... those films you mentioned are pretty much the ones ive been wanting to see but havent, except for monster

[kotte]

Made me love To The White Sea even more.

[MacGuffin]

Warner Home Video have just announced the region one release of The Last Samurai which stars Tom Cruise, Hiroyuki Sanada and Timothy Spall. This two disc special edition release will be available to own in seperate anamorphic widescreen and fullscreen editions from the 4th May this year. Each release should set you back around $29.95 a pop:

Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Track
French Dolby Digital 5.1 Track
English Dolby Surround Stereo Track
Audio Commentary by Director Edward Zwick  
History vs. Hollywood: The Last Samurai Documentary
Tom Cruise: A Warrior's Journey Featurette
Edward Zwick: Director's Video Journal
Production Design with Lilly Kilvert Feature
Costume Design with Ngila Dickson Feature
From Soldier to Samurai: The Weapons Feature
Deleted Scenes: The Beheading & Algren and Katsumoto
Making an Epic: A Conversation with Edward Zwick  
Japan Premieres {Tokyo & Kyoto Red Carpet)
DVD ROM Features: Weblink Etc
English, French, Spanish Subtitles

[modage]

i'm glad they didnt go with that cool art, that would've been too good.



its better when they use something hideous and thrown together in 5 minutes as long as the stars face is so BIG i can see it from all the way across blockbuster video.

[matt35mm]

The acting and cinematography ARE very good.  I know a lot of people are down on Tom Cruise, but his obviously amazing work ethic and desire to do more challenging work is pretty great, I think.

The only question is that the ending is such an OBVIOUS cop out (and everyone who sees it says, "It was good, 'cept for the ending."), so... what the hell was Zwick thinking?  It's just too absurd that One Man (Our Hero) is the only one who doesn't die from a hail of gunfire.

But throughout the movie there were many little copouts (the whole Tim Spall character, the convienently beautiful Japanese lady who waits for him at the village, the "I only know how to be evil" Higher Ranking Officer).  When I look at it, I can see how it basically followed the "Rules of Writing an Action Drama Picture" pretty much exactly.

For a lot of those reasons, I wouldn't call it one of the best of the year, but I think it was a pretty damn good movie anyway.  Heh, I just had a thought that this movie is basically "The Kirate Kid," but maybe someone said that already.

[Gold Trumpet]

This move came to my mind again recently. I was watching the extended edition of Dances With Wolves and even though it was 4 hours long, I was completely entranched in its world and actually feeling Costner's transition from average white male of the times to Sioux Indian. His anger at the end of the film to white men destroying the frontier became my own. The film had moments of over symbolism and hoakiness, but for the most part, it was an air of feeling that felt truthful. Master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa suffered from similiar problems but still made great films because of his ability to capture the feeling in a world. The Last Samuari suffers because it feels like a cliff notes. It has all the right scenes, it just has no sense of environment.

[Redlum]

Excellent point, GT. I think a lot of 'epics' suffer from this and Im sure its down to being overly conscious of running times. As long as there's some kind of payoff - more invested time by the audience should strengthen the impression the film makes.

[NEON MERCURY]

spoilerrrrrrrrrrs...

overall i enjoyed this film.....but what pisse me off mostr about this film was how cliched it felt...it was almost cheesy at times.....so cheesy like a  episode of 'saved by the bell'......and i reall ycouldn t  stand that 'comic relief' fat guy w/ took the picutres  and sh*t.........he s the one who said that cheesy line when cuise was trying to sneak in a meet w/ watannabe.....he really got on my nerves............but i likes Tolls cinematog, and the score was cool.basically all the visual aspects were killer.........oh yeah. the scene near the end when cruise hands over  watannabe s sword to the emporer was too phucking long and drawn out..and yes that helped raise the cheese factor even more....................but i would like to end this on a posituve note and say that watannabe was badassssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss


EDIT:.the quote from the 'time' magazine critic on the dvd cover is absolutely  ridiculous..........after you watch the film read it again and see how stupid it sounds........