Historically speaking, the plots of many movies wouldn't have happened. I feel that Algren being accepted into the village in Last Samurai could be interpretd at the very least as inacurrate, but not distracting, and in my opinion could have happened in real life. The movie made it believable. You have to have something more than the general xenophobic attitude of Japanese people to back up your claim that it isn't realistic. This movie deals with a specific person, Katsumoto who is shown to be not as xenophobic as the average Japanese person. On December 17th, I will see one of the greatest books in the history of British literature be adapted into a Hollywood-esque children's film. Although I'm sure it will be visually stunning like its predecesors, it will probably lack the qualities necessary for it to reach its full potential as a movie. It's a matter of taste I suppose. Last Samurai: Great movie. Two Towers: Entertaining kiddie fare. I have no reason to expect any more from the 3rd installment.
I thought the movie was pretty good. They lay on the bombastic soundtrack too often, and they telegraph certain emotions and messages (i.e., your typical big-star American movie), and the love story was both understated and tacked-on (either Cruise IS gay or this storyline was thrown in for the female fans; I mean, she's hot, dude; don't worry about detracting from the main story, F*** HER!), but the theme of honor (didn't you just want to take Nomura, the main bad guy, and sit him on a sword until the point came out his mouth when he had the troops open fire with a Gatling gun?) always resonates. The guy who played Katsumoto was awesome.
Wait a second ROX, we're talking about Last Samurai not Lord of the Rings. As for the no T&A scene, I thought that was classy man. Come on.
Just saw this over at the IMDB boards. Funniest thread ever. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325710/board/nest/2688896 Dude claims to be a real samurai.
Nomar dude - we KNOW you hate LOTR, but what is the point of continually interjecting it into a Last Samurai thread? There are a ton of LOTR fans here and we are amped about seeing Return of the King. Btw, about the "Japanese culture" thing. Yes, anime is part of Japanese culture, but what I really meant was that you could tell that Tarantino immersed himself in the source material and went above and beyond the call of duty to represent the spirit of it as accurately as possible. The Last Samurai, by comparison, takes a Tom Cruise vehicle and dips it in a can of Japanese paint. Some of the elements of this movie were great enough (the battles, Watanabe, etc) that this was a really good movie. To his credit, I think it was also Tom's best acting job to date.
To Nomar's credit, it was flaming_moe that originally brought up the Lord of the Rings. To Nomar's discredit, he enjoys watching the Red Sox and hated Two Towers.
If you don't like the Hollywood version of this tale, try Mibu Gishi Den. Not sure when it's coming out in the states.
Mrs. B-Bob (again) had a perfect take for this film. ***spoiler *** At the very end of the film, she says "oh finally, a sex scene." "What?" "Oh come on, B-Bob. On guy pushes a sword into the other guy, who then has a look of ecstasy on his face and visions of flowering trees in his mind. I mean, the whole three hours of sword play is just like Freudian foreplay for that final thrust." I think she has a good point.
I loved the movie and the look of it. I thought the Japan country scenes were beautiful...and pissed when I heard it was filmed in New Zealand.
I thought it was good film, but I couldn't make the jump that this women would actually fall in love with the man. Although it makes for great drama in the relationship I couldn't see it happening. It's possible if she hadn't known him as the killer, but because she did, it seems impossible to me. Friends yes. But lovers. No. Very difficult bridge to cross. But an otherwise great movie.
