Category: Cinema
Reviews of movies Adam has seen or films he has worked on.
I’d heard nothing but bad about The Last Samurai. I saw it last night and was entertained. What brought it down the most was Tom Cruise. The director, one Mr. Zwick, ended up putting a bit too much emphasis on Cruise, in narration, diegetic dialogue, and photo-montage. I got the distinct impression that the movie was mainly filmed as another chance for Tom Cruise to play dress-up and overcome his own personal demons on the way to conquering some real life baddies. [just like Top Gun, Far and Away, Minority Report, etc.]
The battle sequences were sweet, although the final battle wasn’t quit as epic as it was boring. I can only watch people get mowed down by muzzle-loaders, Gatling guns, and howitzers for so long before I start to yawn. I was most impressed with the performances by the actual Japanese who played samurai. Cruise did a poor job faking an understanding of the Japanese worldview. In typical Hollywood fashion, everything was a dichotomy. This doesn’t work too well when cast into an Asian setting. The clash between incoming Western culture and traditional Japanese way of life does not really come through. Of course, you can see it portrayed but I don’t buy it. Tokyo is modernized but the village Cruise fights for look completely unchanged.
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