A fading hero of the war against the Red Indians is hired to train the Japanese Army in western war techniques so that they can suppress an uprising by the Samurai. The Samurai are disgruntled with the bastardisation of their heritage and values by the increasingly westernised advisors to the young and impressionable Emperor. Over the winter as the Samurai's prisoner he grows, through the humility, honour and the humanity of his captors, to be part of their culture and embrace their values to the extent of fighting with them against the ways of "his own" people.

I saw the trailers and was impressed, they had an epic feel about them, cheesy and American, but full of charges and very, very pretty Japanese settings. I read some more about this film and saw the trailer another six or so times and thought "this looks like a cross between Gladiator, Braveheart and Seven Samurai with Dances with Wolves doing a merry jig all over the script". I was very excited.

So I went to the cinema got my popcorn and juice, in exchange for one of my limbs and two pints of blood, went in, sat down and....

SPOILERS WITHIN

I was impressed, actually this film ROCKS, I think I have seen every big budget film of 2003 (Hulk, The Matrixes etc) and this one is the Master (not the King, just the Master)!!! Everything oozes high end, top drawer quality and class. Except Billy Connelly's ludicrous accent of course, which is truly rank and is up there with the best of the bad accents in film. The battle scenes are outstanding, much better than Braveheart's. The initial battle really sets an eerie mood, the Samurai are efficient and ruthless and come across like the demons that their armour portrays. Think of the opening battle in Gladiator but shown from the other side, and much cooler. From here things get even better, we see Algren taken prisoner by the man who he witnessed "brutally" beheading the general of the army from the opening scene. This reinforces his belief that the Samurai are in fact savages and he is obviously reluctant to be their prisoner. From here on we get to see the culture of the Samurai, and the vital role that Honour plays in everything they do, as Algren is taken high into the mountains to the Samurai's village. Here he is held prisoner and given accommodation in Katsumoto's sister's (Taka) house, who just happens to be the recent widow to the Samurai that good old Tom killed in the first battle. The relationship between Taka and Algren is a good example of the Japanese tradition of putting honour above all else, as she is bound to have this man who she hates stay with her and her young family. Of course as time passes she falls for him, this did not sit well with me. The children, yes, they are young enough to not fully grasp exactly what had happened, but the widow, No! Another mildly irritating point was how quickly Algren masters the ways of the Samurai and how it is he who becomes the titular Last Samurai. Even with these quibbles and a cinema full of laughter (when Cruise first adopts a Kimono as his new garb (intentional) and again when he put on the Battle gear (unintentional)), it still carries the gravitas needed for a film of this scope. After all this emotional and character driven content it must nearly be time for a really cool fight, and right enough things really kick off for the second half. Bad Ass Ninja slaughter, assassination attempts, Algren showing off, escapes, battles, it must be said the second half Rocks where the first engaged. But I love ROCK! And I love NINJAS! In fact NINJAS ROCK! The ending does suck dirty smelly un-wiped arse though.

Tom Cruise gives a career best, now for some of you that's probably not saying much, but he really does turn it on for this film. This is a first for me in a Cruise film, I actually forgot that I was watching the midget with the shit eating grin and hair as coiffured as any gay porn star, and believed I was watching Nathan Algren, a man struggling with his bloody past & his bloody present. Oscar quality? I'm not sure, but certainly a powerful show from Mr. Cruise. Enough vertically-challenged-actor-ass-kissing though, on to the man with the plan, Ken Watanabe. What a guy, what expression, what talent, in fact I love you Ken, and not just cause we have the same first name. The man strides through this film portraying all the emotion and depth Cruise can muster with his whole being, in just a look. I never doubted this mans performance for a second, he was utterly convincing and could have carried the rest of the cast on his back if need be. That though, was not necessary. The casting in this film was sublime, every one gave a sterling performance and I believe this elevated The Last Samurai from a pretty good film, to a damn fine film!

So what else can I say? There is not a lot original about this film. It is chock full of every cliché that goes with this genre, none of the characters behave in any way other than you expect them to, it really is by the numbers script wise . What elevated this film above most of last years big guns were three things. 1) The cast, 2) The wonderful battle scenes and 3) The setting. Japan is what makes this film so captivating, so beautiful to look at and what makes it feel a lot more original than it really is. In other words if you haven't scene this go and see it, if you have, you already know, and if you don't, well, you are a very jaded person indeed.