Tom Cruise proves once again that ancient cultures floundered and wandered through life until the great white Euro could come to the rescue! Thank you Tom! Ok...the movie wasn't a total wash, in fact there were some redeeming qualities to this epic! But first a bit of back drop: The Japanese are in the midst of a sort of civil war between the new capitalists and the traditional samurai who want to maintain Japans long and isolated culture. The manipulative greedy money grubbing pro-western crew seeks military success in the form of a disenchanted alcoholic American-Indian war veteran (Tom Cruise). Once in battle, the samurai capture Cruise and keep him psuedo captive. While held, Cruise manages to learn fluent Japanese, fight samurai style on a superior level, fall in love with the widow of a man he himself had slain, and most improbably, becomes the father figure to a boy whose father....yep, you guessed it....he himself had slain! Now that I think about this movie, I laugh at the outrageous request of suspension of disbelief! Samurai who speak good English(who the hell taught these mountain dwelling samurai English?), a whitey kicking samurai ass with a samurai sword, ninjas being outdone by anyone, much less a child! Ok...there is big battle scenes. Enough said! The movie is decent enough to justify two hours of your time and as long as I am being generous with the compliments....Tom Cruise's love interest is the most beautiful woman on the planet this side of Eva Mendez and Selma Hayek! "The Last Samurai" is better than I had expected but overall it is the typical yarn of a white man coming to the rescue of a needy people...ergo: "Dances With Wolves" and "Farewell to the King". Nothing special, nothing hideous! (Pat Connor)
Rating: A naked Sally Kirkland