Last Samurai Rox

Gave me chills. Those guys were fucking hardcore. The movie made Tom look like a badass. Man, fucking awesome badass samurai fucking shit up.

While you do have valuable insights into this movie, why not post it on the already existing threads

Because I dont wanna have to do a lot of work in voicing my opinion.

Last Samurai was a mediocre film. It would have been a great film if they had cast someone else in the lead role.

Really, I thought Ken Watanabe was great.

…oh, you mean the other lead role. :P

Exactly. :wink:

I rented this last weekend and even thought about resurecting a thread here to express this simple haiku.

Oscar shines bright
grasping with desire
Should have committed seppuku at end of film

Are not Haikus in
the form of five-seven-five?
Or maybe I’m wrong?

Ken Watanabe was stellar in the movie. Other than that, the movie was way to Hollywood (thinly veiled American saves Japan story, etc, etc!!)

And the winning line: Tell me how he died. No, I will tell you how he LIVED!

In the beginning is the form. In Japanese a haiku is traditionally 5-7-5 sound syllables. All languages cannot duplicate this method of counting syllables so foreign language writers must decide to either follow the method by writing 5-7-5 syllables in their own language. However if they prefer to imitate the product, the translated Japanese haiku, their poems must consist of less words. In English we cannot have both method and translated product correct in one poem so each of us must choose one system or the other. Beginners (especially if better acquainted with Western poetry) often do well to follow the 5-7-5 discipline at first. Later, when they become comfortable with saying what they want said in the least words, as it is easier to switch to the shorter styled haiku in a natural movement. This does not mean that 5-7-5 haiku are beginners’ work; many, many very good writers insist on remaining with the form scheme.

from the website http://www.ahapoetry.com/haidefjr.htm

Not that I am a haiku master. Seriously though I thought this movie would have been much better off if Cruise had died at the end. If the whole point was Bushido putting his life into some context of meaning…given that it had been a soldiers life, then to live happily ever after with the new love interest is pretty silly. The ending should have been re-written. It’s just like the end of Minority Report…the damn movie should have ended with Cruise in Cryro…not with his wife breaking him out to do a Hercule Poirot at the dinner party.

I thought this was a good movie, and that Cruise did a good job. For me, the greatest testament to the film was that, when he finally walks out in his full samurai costume near the end of the movie, you (or at least I) don’t immediately feel the need to laugh… by that point, the film has sold you on the notion that he deserves to wear that armor.

Still not as good as Master & Commander, though.

I just don’t like Cruise very much. He still looks like a pretty boy who’s trying way too hard to look tough. The other actors were excellent, though, and the movie as a whole was quite enjoyable. Not in the same league as Master and Commander but still ranks among the best action historicals I’ve seen, gripes about Cruise or the happy-end notwithstanding.

I’d have to agree: The movie is well worth the rental. It wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be, and there were way too many moments I felt were tacked on (particularly the ending scene with the Emperor).

On the flip side, the scenes that made this movie for me were Watanabe’s death, and the dealing of the final line of the Haiku as his last breath; the scenes with Cruise demanding Sake; Cruise apologizing for Taka’s husband’s death…all good stuff.

I’m sure I take a lot of the scenes with the kids to heart, having little boys of my own that always seem to resemble the “little boy in peril” in whatever film I’m watching.

I swear, Nemo looks like my youngest. Damn Pixar.

I must sadly give that second place only to this gem from the Emperor (and I quote):

“The Forc^H^H^H^HSpirit of the Samurai will be with you, always.”

GROAN.

But I found the film entertaining nonetheless, similarly with Troy.

The battle between Hector and Achilles in Troy is worth the price of admission alone.

But still, not as good as Master and Commander.

Ok. Let’s get this over with. Minority Report is the topic of this post. I’m really tired of hearing the same dimwitted statements about Minority Report’s ending, namely that “he should have ended up in cryo-prison!! It’s dark!! Happy endings (of a sort) suck!!”.

This is so wrong. Let’s look at some basic reasons why saying that Minority Report’s ending was dumb means you are a fucktard.

  1. The movie is film noir. Ending on a down note (the bad guys win, basically) ruins the whole point of it being a detective movie. The plot statement is now “System predicts cop commits crime, system is pwned by bad guys, cop is fucked”. This works for Serpico, but not for a detective story.

  2. That ending would ruin a lot of setup, and leave tons of loose ends lying around. Oh, well, I guess that DOJ agent died for nothing. And the whole Anne Lively bit? Ignore that, not important to the plot. The only way this would work is if the whole movie was turned into some kind of dystopian crime and punishment psycological study.

  3. You’re a fucking dickbrain.

  4. If the complaint is that the movie is “too happy” at the end, just think about this: Now that there is no precrime initiative, thousands upon thousands of people will be murdered. Is this a price worth paying to keep “innocent” people out of jail? I don’t know, but maybe we should just put John in prison! That’s Dark!

  5. The main reason for wanting the “prison ending” is that, as a nerd (just speculating here, but I’d guess I’m close), difficulty with sappyness combined with lack of empathy and something of an emotionally retarded personality indicate that a person who wants the prison ending likes it because it’s much more hip to be enthralled with dark endings and throwaway statements about the human condition. (Yeah, i know I am skirting into Koontz/Crypt territory with that one.)

6: Technically related to point #2, but there are a lot of hints and foreshadowings related to the plot. I suppose we can just ignore them, but then again, I’ve already read 1984 and Brave New World, I’d rather have a sci-fi detective movie any day. I spose someone will bitch about the actual meaning of Noir and all that, but they can go fuck themselves sideways with a chainsaw.

In conclusion, shut up with your minority report ending bashing.

It is?

Screw acting, this movie is about a bunch of fucking hardcore warrior sonsofbitches charging against death and kicking its ass before death wins.

The whole ending emperor scene was dumb tho, I hated that dumbfuck.

Like my Shop Teacher. What a jerk!

Where to start? Bitterman, please get back on your medicine. Your doctors prescribe it for a reason. I don’t have a fancy degree in film but I don’t think a happy ending is a necessary component of “Film Noir.” In the Maltese Falcon spade still sends the broad up the river. Sure the crime should be solved or explained but everybody doesn’t have to live happily ever after. I guess it’s just Spielberg and his sappy E.T. endings that bug me. Give me an ending like Carpenter’s “The Thing” any day.

Another thing that annoyed me with Last Samurai (it’s still worth the rental though) was how stupid the last battle was. Cruise supposedly knows what tactics a modern army will use and he knows the character of the american commander. He starts out ok with a fall-back to an ambush but then after destroying the first force, he decides they need to launch a counter attack straight down the mouths of a battery of howitzers and gattling guns. How about some maneuver Tom? Those howitzer were proped up on a hill, why not probe the flanks. Hell why go after them at all? Suck them forward and take them while they were unlimbering.

Bitterman- Uh, Minority Report didn’t have a happy ending. Tom Cruise’s character dreams the end as he serves his prison term.

Also, Last Samurai was a pretty good Dances With Wolves ripoff until the ridiculous ending. The whole goddamn point of the movie was teaching Cruise that things were worth dying for and teaching Watanbe that killing yourself is bad. What happens? Cruise lives and Watanbe kills himself.

The bad guy officer speaks for the audience when he sees Cruise in that getup, and earlier in the movie when he asks Cruise “what makes you hate your own people so much?”. Good fucking question, one the movie doesn’t answer. Cruise’s character has some serious psychological self-image problems.