Film reviews
The
Last Samurai, Dir; Edward Zwick, Cert; 15
You
can say what you like about Tom Cruise. He’ll always have his critics,
many of whom will say he’ll never become a respected, legendary actor
because of the “Cruise factor” – that being the one where,
if he is playing a mafia boss, it’s just Tom Cruise in a sharp, suave
suit rather than him “becoming” the character, or if he’s
playing a pixie, it’s just Tom Cruise in a pixie suit.
For the most part, I tend to agree with these critics, but I would say
there are exceptions to this rule. For example, I thought he gave a wonderful
performance of a man being torn apart by his own insecurities in “Eyes
Wide Shut” (that being a woefully underappreciated film in itself)
and he does, to an extent, prove his doubters wrong in this tale of 1870s
Japan. It probably won’t win over his most vindictive cynics but
I believe it will at least prod the fence sitters of the world further
toward his side of the field. One thing you CAN say about Cruise though,
is that few of today’s actors choose such a diverse set of roles
as he does – just look at “Eyes Wide Shut”, “Magnolia”,
“Vanilla Sky” and this very film for evidence of that.
Anyway, the plot is simple enough – Cruise plays Nathan Elgren, an
American military officer captured by Samurai soldiers but spared from
an untimely death by the Japanese Emperor, who has decided that Elgren
could be utilised to train the country’s first army in the ways of
the United States’ most modern methods of warfare. That’s about
it, and you would have thought a movie of some 150 minutes would drag
a little in places, but it never does, and Ken Watanabe as Cruise’s
Samurai counterpart is something of a revelation, as is some of the cinematography
used to great effect by director Ed Zwick in a movie which, although rather
similar to 1989’s “Glory”, is more than likely to attain
several nominations for the forthcoming Academy Awards this year.
Having said all that, this film’s not for everyone. Take for example
the writer who was supposed to be reviewing it , and whom I heard
waking himself up by snoring too loudly towards the end of it! 7/10
Tone E
Odeon
Online
