The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai is a sweeping epic in every sense of the film. It has beautiful, carefully filmed exotic locales, a tragic hero, ornate costumes, long battle scenes, and even long contemplative pauses between battles. Like most Oscar hopefuls released late in the year it is more serious about its characters and its actions and thus rises above the common action drivel of the summer blockbuster. It does have its flaws, but overall The Last Samurai is an enjoyable film.

Tom Cruise plays Captain Nathan Algren a disenfranchised American soldier trying to make a living after leaving the army. Of course the issue here is the star power of Tom Cruise, everyone knows it is Tom Cruise, he always plays Tom Cruise, and so it seems a bit anachronistic to set up Tom Cruise as a drunkard former army captain during the 1870s. Cruise is, however, an admirable actor so one does not begrudge him the part; he is just not entirely believable in it.

Captain Algren fought for the Union in the Civil War and then in the West against the Indians. During that time he both studied the Indian ways and took part in the atrocities of war, so naturally he is sent to Japan during the westernization and exploitation of their country to help wipe away those last vestiges of feudal Japan, the savages of the East, the samurai. Captain Algren and a few of his fellow officers are paid handsomely to train Japan’s first conscript army the Western ways of warfare. Through a rather slow early development, Captain Algren trains the soldiers of the emperor to fight and, against his better judgment, he leads his poorly prepared troops into battle against the vastly better prepared samurai. Perhaps the best scene of the movie, and the one most likely to garner them an Oscar for costuming, is when the cowering soldiers watch the samurai emerge in full gear from the mist.

Now I’m not sure why, but Tom Cruise’s Algren is the only soldier left alive after the battle and he is taken back to the mountain village where Katsumoto the samurai chieftain played by Ken Watanabe lives. Katsumoto is played admirably as a noble man who sees the life and traditions that he loves eroded by the westernization of his beloved country. What is not apparent is why he wants a prisoner of war since many of his conversations with Algren revolve around philosophical discussions and not in trying to garner important military information. Over a long winter Algren is healed of his wounds in battle, his alcoholism, and the emotional scars of the unnecessary slaughter of war. Katsumoto and Algren have a number of deep conversations designed to bring them to an understanding and admiration as men. Algren begins to learn the ways of the samurai in part out of respect for Katsumoto and the meaning he applies to warfare not only as war but as a way of life that takes the work of all of the people in the village. I would think he also begins to learn because he is a seeker of adventure stuck in a small village with nothing else to do.

Koyuki plays Taka, the wife of a samurai Cruise has slain in battle. As such she is kind and courteous all the time wishing her unwelcome guest away. Later scenes which promote her as a love interest, though understated by Hollywood standards, still feel forced and unnecessary. But Taka carries herself with quiet dignity as she continues her part of the warrior way of life that the village leads.

The key to the film is its climax. The samurai serve the emperor, yet it is the emperor who seeks their destruction. Thus these men know they face a hopeless situation and the meaningful conversation turns more to how to die with honor then how to win. The title implies the outcome and the battle itself is very satisfying. The biggest flaw with this film is that the rest of the film afterward seems like a significant letdown. A tacked on manufactured Hollywood feel good ending that serves more to undermine the message of the film than complete it. In a film where the nature of the samurai discusses at length a glorious and honorable death, the hero is not supposed to ride off into the sunset. All in all a fine film though likely to be passed over come awards night due to the flood of exceptional films this year.