A review of the DVD for The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise

One thing about being sixty years old and loving movies is that I've had the pleasure of watching a lot of actors get their start in the Hollywood business and then bloom into outright stardom with a single hit. I think of Sean Connery in Tarzan's Greatest Adventure and Darby O'Gill and the Little People, Tom Hanks in the TV series Bosom Buddies and the movie, Splash, Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, Mel Gibson in Mad Max, Jeff Bridges in The Last Picture Show, Morgan Freeman in Brubaker and Eyewitness and Street Smart, Denzel Washington in the TV series St. Elsewhere, John Travolta in the TV show, Welcome Back Kotter and then the movie, Saturday Night Fever, and, of course, Tom Cruise in Taps and then Risky Business, Legend, and Top Gun. This doesn't mean the actors weren't doing other gigs, but these movies and TV shows are the ones I first remember seeing them in.

I haven't enjoyed all of Tom Cruise's movies, but he's definitely had more hits than misses over the years with Top Gun, Rain Man, The Color of Money, Born on the 4th of July, Minority Report, The Last Samurai, The Mission Impossible series, Collateral, War of the Worlds, and Valkyrie. To me, he has proven himself to be a highly skilled and very talented actor. However, I feel that out of all his films, The Last Samurai is perhaps the movie he should've won an Academy Award for. This film is truly exquisite to watch. You not only get to see a fantastic actor at work, but also a man who wasn't hesitant about learning the art of Japanese swordfighting and going all out during the action sequences, risking serious injury at various times.

I have a background in the martial arts, having studied Judo, Shotokan Karate, Shorin-rye Karate, a little bit of Akido, and the Korean style of karate, Tae Kwon Do. Though I've never studied it, I've always had a deep facination with Japanese swordmanship and its history. I've read a great many books on Bushido over the years and have studied Zen on somewhat of an off and on basis. To be honest, it's been more off than on due to severe cramping of the legs when sitting zazen. It's embarrassing to try and stand up after sitting meditation and then fall over on your face. Everybody looks at you like you're crazy, especially when you say that you're practicing a new self-defense move. Anyway, what does all of this have to do with The Last Samurai? Nothing much really, other than my own personal interest in seeing the film and how it protrayed the samurai in Japan.

The story of The Last Samurai is centered on two men. The first is Nathan Algren, an Army veteran of the Civil War and the Indian Wars out West. As a captain in the Army Cavalry, he has had to do many questionable things during his career, which give him nightmares each night and force him to drink in a futile effort to forget his despicable actions such as having to kill innocent women and children. When the movie starts off, Algren is pimping Winchester rifles at a carnival show. He hates that, too. A former member of his unit sees him and offers Algren an unusual opportunity that involves meeting with members of a Japanese delegation. It seems they want him to train their military in modern warfare and to prepare them for the final conflict against the last samurai and his army of fanatics.

The second man the film focuses on is Katsumoto (played to perfection by Ken Wanatabe). He is the last of the powerful samurai who are still willing to fight the Japanese nationalists in an attempt to keep the old ways in Japan from dying out and to prevent the country from becoming a modern nation of power. He firmly believes he's doing this to protect his former student, the Emperor of Japan. Katsumoto knows his days are numbered, but refuses to go down without a fight. He can either die by his own sword in ritual suicide, or by the sword of his enemy.

Algren isn't in Japan but for a few weeks when he's ordered to take his barely-trained men out in search of Katsumoto, who has been attacking the railways. Algren and his men confront Katsumoto in a fierce battle, and the samurai win, taking the American captain as a prisoner. But it is really more than that. Katsumoto had a vision of a powerful white lion fighting against superior odds but refusing to surrender. Algren is the white lion of his vision, and Katsumoto needs to understand what the importance of Algren is to his cause.

While Algren is kept prisoner from fall to spring in a tiny village in the northern provinces, he begins to learn the way of the samurai and the code of Bushido. He sees that the people of this village have an acute sense of discipline, honor, and a strong purpose for living life to the fullest each and everyday. It gives him pause for reflection. In time both he and Katsumoto become friends, especially after a ninja attack at night on the village in which he saves Katsumoto's life.

When spring finally arrives, the Emperor offers Katsumoto and his men safe passage to Tokyo. Katsumoto takes Algren with him so the captain can return to American. It isn't long, however, before Algren finds out that Katsumoto has been placed under house arrest. When he goes to help him, assassins attack him in a blaze of swords and knifes with Algren defeating several opponents with no weapons of his own. After that, he manages to free Katsumoto and they then prepare for battle against the Americanized Japanese army and its firepower of cannons, cattling guns, and repeating rifles. The samurai will only fight with their traditional weapons of sword, bow and arrow, and spear. It will be a battle to the death with no quarter asked or given.

The director of The Last Samurai, Edward Zwick, captures the inner richness of Japan's countryside with its striking beauty and peaceful essense. The screenplay for the movie delves into the actual code of Bushido and how the word samurai translates into "to be of service." Much information is given in a very comfortable manner that pulls the viewer deeper into the film so they understand where the samurai are coming from in an attempt to keep their way of life from being destroyed. Katsumoto ask Algren, "Do you believe that man is controlled by destiny." Algren tells him that, "I believe a man does what he can, until his destiny is finally revealed to him."

The Last Samurai is not only an action film that takes a historic look at Japan as the country seeks to modernized itself, but the film is also a romance about two people who fall in love with each other against all odds. While Algren is a prisoner in the samurai's small village, he stays with the wife of the warrior he killed in battle. The woman is Katsumoto's sister, and she fights the chore of having to heal and take care of the person who killed her husband. In time Algren falls in love with her and her two children. When asked by one of the small boys why he's going to fight against the Emperor's army, Algren answers, "Because they come to destroy what I have come to love."

The music by Hans Zimmer captures the etheral essence of feudal Japan as it converges with the Industrial Age, and has a number of soft and rousing melodies that represent Katusmoto and the love between Algren and the woman who has helped him to leave his nightmares behind. The music is lovely to listen to and is probably one of Zimmer's best scores.

The two-disc set of The Last Samurai has the usual commentary on Disc One, and a ton of extras on the second disc. It not only looks at the making of the film, but also the history of Japan and Tom Cruise's journey to become a warrior. There's a look at the samurai and their weapons, along with many deleted scenes. This two-disc set is a gold mine for those who love the movie.

One last thing, I initially saw The Last Samurai here in Las Vegas at its first showing in a theater close to where I lived at the time. There were only about thirty people in the audience at that time of the late morning, mostly caucasions but also two Japanese families. After the movie was over, nearly everybody left but me and the Japanese. I wasn't ready to leave. I wanted to listen to the music and relive some of the scenes in my mind before I once again walked out into the real world. When the music and the end credits finished, I and the two Japanese families stood up to leave. I watched as they displayed their apparent appreciation of the film by bowing toward the screen. One of the children saw me standing in the back, watching them, and said something to her father. He turned around and looked at me, and I bowed to him and his family. It was one of those special moments in life that the average person has so few of. The two families honored the film for its truthfulness about the ancient Japanese culture, and I honored them in turn.