Last Samurai

[portisistheman]

Excellent movie. I am not a Cruise fan as I have previously stated but I was thoroughly impressed with his performance. Ken Watanabe has a commanding grace and presence in the film that I think compliments Cruise's own (performance, that is, not grace).

[mattos]

Re: Re: Re: Last Samurai

Originally posted by rascal
You need to read a book called the Shogun. It is similar to this movie, and sorry but when the "whites" started going to Japan it wasn't unfamiliar to hear stories, not to this degree, of something similar to this.

I've been to Japan and lived there for 2+ months so I have some credibility here. Samurai were comparable to our knights and of all types of warriors in history and today, they were the most honorable.

i won't argue cause i don't know. but in comparison to kurosawa's movie (7 samurai?) - as i remember kurosawa painted them more as warlord types than paladins. although the heros in that were samurai too i guess. as with everything, i'm sure there were a variety.

don't be sorry, i know there were white ppl there at the time. but there were asians in the US in the 1800's, and i just can't see jackie chan in "the last cowboy." to say nothing of the football players in "the last boyscout."

[rascal]

Re: Re: Last Samurai

Originally posted by mattos
ACK SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

you need to put a warning the headline or something man. i haven't seen it yet. but it doesn't surprise me that he survives. the fact that he's in the movie at all turned me off of it a bit. if i was to watch a movie called "the last cowboy" i sure as heck wouldn't want jackie chan to be in it. cruise's presence creates problems that i just can't accept. i'm all for suspending reality in movies (for instance i have no real problem with the way samuri's are portrayed here; they weren't the bastions of nobility that the movie implies, or so i hear) but sticking a white movie star in a movie about old japan just didn't sit well with me for some reason.

You need to read a book called the Shogun. It is similar to this movie, and sorry but when the "whites" started going to Japan it wasn't unfamiliar to hear stories, not to this degree, of something similar to this.

I've been to Japan and lived there for 2+ months so I have some credibility here. Samurai were comparable to our knights and of all types of warriors in history and today, they were the most honorable.

[mattos]

Re: Last Samurai

Originally posted by rascal
with the exception of Tom Cruise somehow surviving that last charge.

ACK SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

you need to put a warning the headline or something man. i haven't seen it yet. but it doesn't surprise me that he survives. the fact that he's in the movie at all turned me off of it a bit. if i was to watch a movie called "the last cowboy" i sure as heck wouldn't want jackie chan to be in it. cruise's presence creates problems that i just can't accept. i'm all for suspending reality in movies (for instance i have no real problem with the way samuri's are portrayed here; they weren't the bastions of nobility that the movie implies, or so i hear) but sticking a white movie star in a movie about old japan just didn't sit well with me for some reason.

[dhall26]

It was okay. I liked it. Ken Wantabe is up for an Academy Award for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR. Yes, it was good for a TOM CRUISE movie. He's getting on my good side, having made 2 good movies in a row (Minority Report and Last Samarai)! It's Hard to redeem yourself after a poor movie like "VANILLA SKY"!

[rascal]

I don't know if any of you have seen this movie, but I saw it last night and I loved this movie with the exception of Tom Cruise somehow surviving that last charge. I can't believe it didn't win awards, even my wife loved it despite the occasional beheading.