For 500 dollars a month I'll kill whoever you want me to.
But know that I'd happily kill you for free.

I went to see The Last Samurai this evening. Back in the day when I started seeing previews for it I was really, really worried. But then I've started seeing some reviews of it the past few weeks that raved over it. It made me think it could be really good.

It turns out that it is quite good, but also has some distinct faults. The good stuff: the imagery, landscapes, and costume work is spectacular. I especially enjoyed the tradational samurai armor. The first scene of the smaurai riding out of the fog was great, looking just as intended like monsters coming to get you. The film suffers from some cliches and overly strong musical cues, however I was impressed with the number of cliches it stayed away from. My biggest fear was that this would be a pure Hollywood movie and not respect the traditional Japanese culture it portrays.

At one point when he's about to fight against the Samurai for the first time Tom Cruise's character is told that they are savages with only bow and arrow and swords. Tom retorts: that may be so, but they've been training for 1000 years. That Japanese culture is incredibly deep, and they are incredibly good fighters. My biggest worry with this film was that the westerner would waltz in and all of a sudden be better then everyone, negating their lifetime of study. The film walks a fine line with this, and of course Tom eventually becomes a bit of a hero, but this happens in a way that feels ok to me. They make it work (if nothing else by setting up early on that Tom's an excellent fighter himself.)

What really keeps this film out of greatness is the ending. I was thinking about my dislike for it, and how to best phrase it. But then I wen't to read Ebert's review and as expected (since he is immensely more talented then I) his is perfect. Read the full review here. Or just read the paragraph in question:

Is a there a line between dying for what you believe in, and dying because of what you believe in? That the film raises this question shows how thoughtful it is. If "The Last Samurai" had ended in a way that was consistent with its tone and direction, it would have been true to its real feelings. But the ending caves in to Hollywood requirements, and we feel the air going out of the picture. An art film can trust its audience to follow along to the necessary conclusion. A Hollywood ending assumes that the audience caves in at the end, turns dim-witted and sentimental, and must be fed its lollypop.

The ending really was insulting. And the last line of dialog (not the voice over stuff) was atrocious. But outside of that it was solid.

My only other main thought in watching this is just how terrible war is. I was reminded of the places around the world where war is waging right now (not just Iraq, there are conflicts elsewhere too) and saddened. It pains me that we ever get to that point and watching characters I care about die was that much harder knowing real people are dying now. It makes me wish I knew them so I could better respect their sacrifice.

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