4 of 10
Cinematography by John Toll
Ken Watanabe
Tom Cruise
Billy Connolly
Timothy Spall
Koyuki
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| The Last Samurai 4 of 10 |
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| Directed by Edward Zwick Cinematography by John Toll Ken Watanabe Tom Cruise Billy Connolly Timothy Spall Koyuki |
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| This film is an interesting study, in many ways. Unfortunately, it turns out to be worth studying more for its failures than for its successes. Zwick said somewhere that this film was his homage to Kurosawa. (That statement is profoundly wrong on so many levels, I�d better just let it pass.) First off, it wants badly to be an epic, but fails just as badly. It just didn�t really have the scope; you can feel an epic when you watch it. This one was tinny in comparison. Kurosawa�s films are visually spectacular. And Zwick filmed in Japan. But the similarities pretty much end there. One of the Japanese master�s trademark skills was his ability to be patient; to let the image make a complete impression on the viewer. In Zwick�s incarnation, there were several shots that seemed like they could definitely fit into the Kurosawa mold. But just about every time one of these started to sink in, we cut away to something else. I found this very frustrating�but on to the actual story. First, a quick note about the cast: Cruise was respectable, as always. And he was also very humble. Early on, it became clear that Watanabe was stealing the entire show; Cruise let him do it. Few Hollywood heavy-weights would do that. Which brings me to Watanabe himself: nothing short of spectacular. His character is a fascinating one, but there are moments where we know exactly what he is thinking, even though there is no dialogue. I love when an actor can do that. As for the story, I felt that the middle hour was far better than the set-up. A lot of the section that deals with the samurai culture itself was interesting. (And probably this is where the film most resembles Kurosawa.) But there were some extremely heavy-handed political moments even there. The ending was ridiculously westernized and really seemed totally out of place. It contains one of the most �cringe inducing� sequences of dialogue I have ever been �privileged� to see. All in all, a film with all the worst aspects of an epic, but none of the benefits. And finally, someone take the slow motion camera away from Zwick! Please! Lives are at stake! | ||||||