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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Last Samurai (2003) |
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A Civil War veteran, Nathan Algren, is sent to Japan to train troops to fight for the emperor. He begins to train the troops. During a battle Nathan is captured by the Samurai. At their camp he grows to like them and their style of war and fighting. He then joins them and goes against his old troops.
--Jack Bauer, Resident Scholar
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Some war stories make you feel the tragedy of war regardless of your sympathies, and this is one of them. Nathan is a captain in the US army who has seen too much senseless killing of innocent American Indians in the subduing of the Wild West. Now he crawls inside a bottle to escape the horrors of his conscience.
But his account of fighting the Indians has reached the Emperor of Japan, who has a similar culture clash of his own to handle. He wishes to modernise his country but his own most faithful elite troops, the Samurai, do not wish to give up the old ways as they sense this will be the downfall of all they value and respect. 'Samurai' means service, and they above all serve the emperor and all he has ever stood for. They cannot accept the changes taking place as (then as now), they are the highest class of a rigidly codified honour-shame culture. They become a formidable renegade fighting force and the emperor needs American help from those who know how to fight this type of war. And Nathan is too poor to refuse the work.
In Japan he trains the emperor's new army, but they are put into the field for their first encounter with their new guns too early. The Samurai have bows and arrows, swords, and 1000 years of fighting spirit. The greenhorns are slaughtered and Nathan is captured. But in captivity he learns that the Samurai way is greatly to be honoured and respected. Their love for the old ways and all they hold dear is not to swept away in a hail of bullets. They will all die a death of honour rather than live a life of shame. Nathan joins the Samurai and learns self-respect again in commitment to a greater cause. But they cannot win. The second confrontation will be the final one: eventually the last Samurai will fall, never more to serve.
--Michael JR Jose, Resident Scholar
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Tom Cruise is Nathan Algren, a worn down alcoholic war veteran who suffers from guilt over the American Indians he slaughtered under General Custer's command. He's hired by an advisor to the Japanese Emporer to teach the Japanese army how to fight against and exstinguish Samurai rebels. But when the Samurai take him prisoner in battle, Nathan learns what a good and honorable people they are. Transformed by their way of life, he devotes himself to their cause and becomes a Samurai himself.
--Chris Burnham, Resident Scholar
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By 1876, Civil War hero Captain Nathan Algren (Cruise) has been reduced to performing in side shows to promote the sale of Winchester rifles. Plagued by a massacre of an Indian village under orders by his superior, Colonel Bagley, Algren drinks and hates himself. Bagley and Algren are hired by the Japanese government to teach the army how to employ modern weapons and techniques of war. The former warrior class in service of the emperor, the samurai, have been disenfranchised and outlawed, and have taken to the hills to pursue a guerilla war in which they believe they still serve the emperor (young forward-thinking Meiji) against the new technologically-minded and Western-looking ruling class. The samurai rebels easily defeat the unprepared Japanese army in battle, and the wounded Algren is taken prisoner. Given much of the ensuing fall and winter to recover in captivity in a hidden mountain village, Algren gets to know his enemy, the dignified and honorable Katsumoto (Watanabe), as well as the wife and children of the samurai he killed in battle. Algren's understanding of the conflict -- and his loyalties -- begin to shift, and the former enemies unite against the government of Japan. This is an old fashioned epic of the sort director Edward Zwick has favored ("Once and Again," "Legends of the Fall," "Glory"), but it has a strong, still center, and avoids cliches. The story by John Logan, who has stumbled in the past with "Star Trek:Nemesis" and "The Time Machine," is superb and the acting (especially the Japanese) is awesome. This one deserves a wide audience.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The Last Samurai (2003) |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 19th century
Inner struggle or disability
Yes
Struggle with
- conduct in war
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- soldier
Ethnic/Regional/Gender story?
Yes
Culture clash?
- visiting a different culture
Culture of surrounding area:
- Japanese
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- infantry soldier
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) long girliemon hair
Body type
- (man) average
Unclothed?
- Chest
Events of movie makes character more...
- sensitive
- caring
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- hard edged
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- very athletic
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- bald
Hair style
- (man) bald
Body type
- (man) muscular
- (man) average build
How much in movie?
- 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Japanese
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 20%
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) fat
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Japanese
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
Asia/Pacific/Middle East
Yes
Asian country:
- Japan
Misc setting
- fort/military installation
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- thoughtful
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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