I saw it on Saturday and this is what I think about The Last Samurai:
[Spoilers] As we left the cinema I was astonished to learn that we spent 2 1/2 hours watching a well told movie. I really thought it was only the standard 90 minutes…
My biggest apprehension was, that Tom Cruise would mess the the story up, but he was very unobtrusive. He did not - as I feared - staged the cool MI-agent who spent a action holiday in medieval Japan, but actually acted really well and was the whole time ‘in character’.
The story has - of course - no big surprises, is very straight but never boring. The fighting scenes are well done, but the final battle was a little to long for my tastes. Don’t get me wrong: The martial arts choreography was good but not spectacular, but somehow - especially the first fighting scene* in the woods and later the ninja attack - the movie really showed the tension, heat and suddenness of a battle that is fought to the death. Which is no mean feat, since this was the first time, that I saw something like that.
The unavoidable love story is very sweet and as Squee already pointed out is the closest they get a single, shy kiss. That was kind of refreshing.
The rest of the characters were very well cast I liked the sergeant** which gets killed in the first battle and hatsumoto and his fighting trainer best.
* I always wondered why samurai had this silly looking totally overdressed kind of armor. As I saw how those horrifying and alien monsters broke through the misty woods, I understood.
** Is this the same guy as the father of The Boondock Saints? [/Spoilers]
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