OxBlog

Sunday, January 04, 2004

# Posted 11:17 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

THE LAST "HAM"URAI: Watching Tom Cruise act is not a pleasant experience. But the problems with The Last Samurai have much more to do with the plot than the actors. As Mitch Webber sums it up:
Plot: Attractive American Army Captain, sick of killing Natives, soldier-of-fortunes himself out to the Japanese Emperor.  Gets captured by Samurai rebels, comes to love the way of the sword / way of the warrior / way of the Samurai / [supply your own 'way-of-the-...' cliche].

Resolution: Rebellion suppressed.  Everyone dies but white guy.  Returns to Japanese village to be with wife of man he killed.  Very plausible. 

Thoughts: Why is it that every Japanese character in American movies speaks only in platitudes and can't go a full sentence without using the word 'honor'?  Do the Japanese really talk like that?  I mean, even Native Americans usually aren't charicatured so thoughtlessly. 
The funny thing is that the movie tries so hard to be politically correct by highlighting American brutality and ignorance. Yet like so many well-meaning advocates of diversity (both cultural and ethnic), its director reduces the Japanese to being noble savages.

Still, the battle scenes are probably worth the price of the ticket.
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