this film is soooo fantastic!!!! i got a this DVD yesterday,but i've already watched three time!!!! i'm watching it one hour later one more!! this film is an action samurai film. background is when japanese revolution more 100 years ago. you should watch it. no,you have to watch it!! one of the starring actor KEN WATANABE is sooo cool!! probablly,you'll be to love him. anyhow,watch it!!!!

The Last Samurai - This excellent martial arts film really should have come out a few years ago as I feel that it would have inspired a chain of other films to really impress people.

The film really touched me, and found the something "SPIRITUAL" about me.

The Last Samurai Review: Tom Cruise has been a superstar ever since the movie Top Gun. He is the highest paid actor in the world, regularly commanding 20 + million per movie. He also gets movies made, that might not have been otherwise, because of his involvement. This may be one of those pictures.

Cruise's character is a captain in the United States army. He fought under General Custer's command. He considered Custer to be an arrogant fool, who let his pride get to him. Never underestimate your enemy was the lesson Cruise learned from the battle of Little Big Horn.

After the war with the Indians was won by the US, Cruise started hitting the booze hard. He was suffering from some sort of post war phenomenon. Mainly the slaughtering of women and children amongst the Indians. He told his superiors that certain Indians were not enemies, etc. His superiors did not want to listen, they mowed every Indian down. Cruise was having a hard time dealing with the guilt. He had many nightmares and visions.

Cruise was a fierce fighter, that was true. His legend had grown during and after the war. So much so, that the Japanese had heard of his exploits. They wanted to hire him to come to Japan and train their troops to fight the western way. He agreed to it, only because the money was good and he was ordered to by his superior officer. In a private moment the night of the negotiation, Cruise had a showdown with his lieutenant. This is the same one who would not listen to Cruise about certain peaceful Indians. He said, "You wanted me to kill Indians, so I killed Indians. Now, you want me to fight Japs - so I will fight Japs. I do this because you order me to, and because the money is good. However, know this - if I ever have the chance to kill you, I will. And, I will do it for free".

The emperor of Japan is very young, early twenties, it seems. He makes no decisions of his own, and basically just nods approval to whatever his council wants him to do. The leader of the council makes decisions that will make him rich, not necessarily good decisions for the country. They have brought in Cruise to help fight off a rebellion by the "Samurai". These Samurai warriors do not use guns. They use swords and bows and arrows.

Cruise begins to train the Japanese conscripts, but it is evident they are more farmers than warriors. To prove a point, he stood 50 feet away and asked one of them to shoot him. The man shot at Cruise after some hesitation, but the bullet went far wide of him. Even with only about 2 weeks of training, the head of the Japanese council orders them into battle. They have numbers and weapons on their side, but no "heart" or fighting spirit.

Cruise goes down fighting when the two armies meet up. The Samurais clean house, and many of the Emperors soldiers simply run away. Cruise takes out about 10 guys by himself before his wounds stop him. For some reason, the head of the Samurai takes him alive, back to their village.

This is where the movie treads into "Dances With Wolves" territory. Cruise is in a foreign land, with foreign people for about a 6 month period. He learns enough Japanese to get by. He starts to see the "beauty" of the Samurai lifestyle, and begins to appreciate their culture. In a harsh twist, he is assigned to live with the family of the highest decorated samurai, which he killed in battle. In my opinion, too much drama, not enough action.

The head of the Samurai has kept Cruise alive, because he wants to learn who his enemy is. By reading some of Cruise's journals about his adventures with the American Indian, the head Samurai is beginning to learn. The head Samurai is the only one in the village that can speak English. The viewer can also start to see parallels between the way of the Indian and the way of the Samurai.

Although Cruise is a good swordsman by American standards, he is only about 75% as good as the Samurai. It is by training with them, that he becomes much better with the use of a sword. As he improves, he begins to get begrudging respect from the other Samurai warriors. His training reminded me of Steven Seagal in his movie where he comes out of a coma, and has to learn how to fight all over again. It was one of his classic 3, either "Hard to Kill", "Above the Law", or "Out for Justice" - I can't remember which.

One night, some commandos from the Emperor attack the village. Cruise steps in and saves the life of the head Samurai. In some sort of "Patty Hearst" fashion, Cruise has now aligned himself with the very people he was supposed to kill.

The movie comes down to a final battle between the forces of the Emperor, and the army of the Samurai. The Samurai are outnumbered at least 5 to 1. Plus, the Japanese troops now have US cannons, and more importantly, Gatling guns. Remember, the Samurai have only swords and bows, and arrows.

The last battle has a "Braveheart" type feel to it. The leaders of the two armies actually meet at midfield to see if there will be a surrender. The US lieutenant is very surprised to see Cruise as one of their leaders now. He promises no mercy to him in battle. The last battle scene is definitely a good one.

There has been much hype about this movie. I'm afraid it is undeserved. If this movie didn't have Tom Cruise in it, I don't think it would have been released. As I said, it is an asian "Dances With Wolves" wanna be. I give the movie a 7/10.

Some of these stars need to make the movies that their fans actually want to see. In Cruise's case that is Top Gun II, in which he would now take over the role of Viper and be the top US fighter pilot in the world. You would have another young actor, I would suggest Colin Farrell, be the rebel pilot who needs to learn about teamwork. It is truly, a no brainer.