_The Last Samurai_ - a movie review (its just too damn good a film not to have its own item)

Dec 17 08:13 UTC 2003

Went and saw opening night.  What a hoot.  _Shogun_ meets _Dances with
Wolves_?  (Dunno, maybe some outtakes in the flashback scenes?)

Paid full price - 18$US for two.  And damn worth every penny - for the
comedy.  I'm sure intended as a serious film and I'm damn sure when
opens in the Japanese market will be very popular - as an hilarious
screamer.  Probably intended as a serious drama with no japanese
technical advisor and the japanese actors taking the american producers
(including the leading man) for every penny if they thought about it at
all.   I'll try not to enter spoilers.  

The basic plot is our hero - a disipated american civil war vet - is
hired along with his partner (who is let go early on in the film) by the
'meiji restoration' crew to train their modern army who are battling the
'old' traditional samurai.  Bows and swords -vs- modern firearms (quite
ignoring the fact that both the bakafu and the insurgentes purchased
modern firearms from the same american sources).  Our hero travels to
nippon where he trains the 'modern' army of conscripts, is forced into
battle -"they are not ready" - by the evil americans, and is captured by
the 'noble savages' where he is enlightened and finally fights on the
side of the "good guys" - with sword and bow against modern firearms
including howitzers and gatling guns (despite the fact that such modern
weapons of mass destruction would not have been provided by the Ami's
and despite the fact the belt fed cartridge machine guns were offered to
the opposing side of the hero the prior decade by the french).  Observe
cherry blossoms fall for weeks if not months.  Observe our hero learn
akido 70 or so years before it was invented.  View a vast selection of
traditional armor from centuries past all worn by the same clan in the
same battle at the same time. See our hero learn enough kendo to draw a
match with the daiymo's swordmaster in a matter of weeks.  Titter as the
samurai lady cowers while her pre-teen son defends against a ninja
warrior - and see ninjas alive and well long after they had been long
since eradicated.  See the samurai lady dishonor herself - not just by
the kiss of our hero especially after comments about him smelling like a
pig earlier but from dressing him in the armor of her dead husband (whom
he killed) minus the helmet and face mask (would have spoiled the hair
and the face shots if our hero had worn those bits).  Glory in the
sendup to _Charge of the Light Brigade_ (note: I think it was the Heavy
that did that charge then and rather elsewhere, but details).  See a new
sword made and then desecrated by its maker as a moto is enscribed on of
all things the blade itself  (the blade is the soul of bushido).  See
the daiymo without helmet and face mask as well (more face shots for the
japanese soap opera star sans helmet and mask for similar reasons as our
hero) and see the bakafu army bow instead of simply and as a matter of
course killing the gaijin (who doesn't think of stomping cockroaches
when seen?).  Watch the Meiji Revolution be resolved in about a year
instead of about a decade.  Witness Emperor Meiji as a teenage idiot but
in control.  (Shudder at the probably unintentional tribute to japanese
militarism that gave us Tojo and WW-II.)

It is well worth the money.  The final battle I think is second only to
the hand grenades down the ventilator shafts scene from _The Dirty
Dozen_ -  Jim Brown (the american style football star not the Al
Sharpton role model singer) - as a "red blooded american male tear
jerker".

response 2 of 25:

Dec 17 15:34 UTC 2003

Methinks pvn thinks he knows japanese history, adn in fact he is just as
muddled as the rest of us.  You don't want any writing on the sword?  We are
talking 19th century here, not 16th .  Things change.  Styles  and customs
change, even among the Samurai.  What was once prohibited is now customary.

in other words, do not judge the time period int eh movie with a time period
from 300 years earlier.  Teh shigunate was gone, the emperor once morer had
nominal control of teh country instead of being a captive.

Sure there were mistakes, but remember, this was not supposed to be
historically accurate, it is a mood peice designed to attach to your feelings.
Could he become a sword master in a mtter of weeks?  no, but as a cavalry
officer, he already had some ability with the sword.

Did the americans force him to battle with unready troops?  No, the idiot 
political minister whose train was attacked did.

Wahts wrong with the Gatling guns?  Modern weaponry would not have been
offered to the japanese?  Why not?  American arms dealers have always been
willing to sell their weapons, and the government didn't really oppose it as
much in the 19th century as they did in the 20th.  And those belt fed French
machine gunswere near worthless.

response 4 of 25:

Dec 17 17:35 UTC 2003

With all of the unintentionally-funny-because-they-got-the-little-things-wrong
comedy the Japanese have given us over the years, isn't it about time we began
returning the favor?

response 12 of 25:

Dec 18 00:28 UTC 2003

The samurai, around the time pictured, spent several hours a day practicing.
Serious stuff, perhaps only matched by the best sword-fighting schools in
Europe.

response 14 of 25:

Dec 18 09:10 UTC 2003

/listens to the SCA hearts going all a-twitter

response 16 of 25:

Dec 18 22:23 UTC 2003

Well, it worked in the context of the movie, whether or not it could have
happened. (I mean, sheesh, I still think they gave him the special
bullet-repelling armor or something -- either a lot more samurai should have
lived through that charge, or he should have fallen over after his friend's
big scene, dead as a doornail.) I didn't particularly *like* having to deal
with his viewpoint character (as I mentioned above) but if he had to be there,
you knew what the cliches would be.

response 18 of 25:

Dec 18 23:13 UTC 2003

  In most period-piece historical dramas I never even get around to 
  worrying about the technical details of swordplay or armor details if
  I can't get past the "WHERE does he get STYLING GEL in 19th-century
  Japan?" question..

response 20 of 25:

Dec 18 23:36 UTC 2003

processed by sensitive texans?

response 22 of 25:

Dec 19 12:35 UTC 2003

Guys and gals: GET A GRIP!!! For crying out loud, it's a movie. If you want
authenticity, read some archaelogy and/or history. It's meant to be
entertainment, not education.