 |
|
|
|
The Last Samurai (2003)
 email this review to a friend
Movie Review by Jesse
January 14th, 2007
|  |
Ken Watanabe, you are terrific.
It's a shame that this film was hollywoodized because it had potential to be perfect. It fell slightly below that line though, with a still amazing rating from me. This film, although historically incorrect in many ways, still has an excellent storyline and is so pleasing to watch. It's absolutely gorgeous and the Japanese culture makes it so calm even though it's violent.
This film fails to represent the Japanese culture properly, but still has strong morals. Similar to Lost in Translation, this film deals with the Americanization of Japan. The Americans are called into Tokyo to help train the Japanese soldiers. In this training, the Americans are colonizing the Japanese culture and basically rebuilding it to fit their standards. The beauty of this film is in the shots of Katsumoto's village in the still culturally-stable side of Japan.
The cinematography is stunning, also. This beautiful piece of film could have been a masterpiece if it wasn't for its Hollywoodization. The director had good morals, but the film never really adapted them. It is still an amazing film, and I do not judge it for its historic errors, because this film is fictional and with a piece of fiction, anything can happen.
Ken Watanabe is brilliant as Katsumoto, the most respected samurai in his land. He gives a performance full of emotion, yet remains stern in his presence.
A terrific film.
email this review to a friend
Comment on this Review:
Sorry, you must be a member to add comments to reviews.
Join or Login. |
 Subscribe to MatchFlick Movie Reviews through RSS
|
