The Last Samurai Review

What would it look like if an American was assimilated into the Samurai culture? Well, that's what The Last Samurai directed by Edward Zwick and starring Tom Cruise captures in its story. The film follows Nathan Algren (Cruise) a Civil War soldier turned alcoholic as he is recruited to lead a westernized Japanese army into battle and deals with the fallout of this and Algren’s eventual turn to the way of the Samurai. The film is set in the 1870s setting the stage for the unique relationship between the Japanese and the West. As it stands Cruise is one of the best elements that stand out in this picture.




     The film has a lot of great qualities which make it well worth the watch. When we first meet Cruise’s character Algren in the film he is a drunk suffering from nightmares from his war days. However, we get to see a well played out character journey with Algren during the course of the story as he heals from his wounds and embarks on a new way of life. Another character that really shines here is Katsumoto who seems to be second in power to the Emperor. I was very impressed with this character as he is a man of extreme loyalty to the emperor and holds utmost devotion to the ways of the Samurai. It is also great that they don’t leave his character in a two-dimensional state because they allow the element of conflict to come in with his character when they showcase him questioning his loyalty when his emperor sides with the modernized Japan. The character interactions in this film pay off really well as you get great exchanges between Algren and Katsumoto in which a sort of friendship develops between the two. A crucial element of the story is the relationship between Algren and Taka, the wife of a man Algren killed in battle before being brought to the village of the Samurai and the woman who takes Algren in after he is hurt in that battle. At first, their relationship is estranged but a romance eventually develops which was executed decently. Edward Zwick really shined with the action scenes as he pulled off awesome Samurai and soldier scenes fights in a unique quick flashy style. However, even with all the great qualities of the film, it isn’t perfect.


The faults of the Last Samurai majorly lie in the pacing of the film which is slow. The pacing being slow isn’t necessarily the problem, but the execution of it is. The film feels disservice because certain parts of the story could have had more time to flesh out while other parts could have been shortened. Also as well done as the Algren character journey is in the film it does feel like his adjustment to the life of a Samurai happened a bit quickly. I believe a change in pacing could have helped solved this issue. The ending does have some great moments, yet it begins to feel tedious as the film wraps up, though.

In the end, even with its faults, The Last Samurai is a good movie, even though it's not a great one. I believe the film does a good job showing a disgraced soldier played very well by Cruise and his journey to the unique culture of the Samurai. Overall the film tells a satisfying adventure with good characters which can feel tedious at times, though. The film is definitely a movie worth two and a half hours of your time. In the end, I’m assigning this film a score of 7.8/10.

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