Cruise's oriental adventure leaves a little lacking
The Last Samurai
Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Tom Cruise, Billy Connolly, Timothy Spall, Ken Watanabe, Tony Goldwyn
Cert: 15.
In so many ways this action-in-costumes drama, based on a true story, is a bit of a clunker since director Zwick, whose best work was the American Civil War epic, Glory, allows himself to get bogged down in the tiny details.
Cruise plays Nathan Algren, an American soldier who finds himself in 19th century Japan teaching the army modern tactics.
He is captured by the fierce Samurai warriors and learns to love and respect their ways.
He switches sides and becomes a staff-wielding, sword-swinging hero … in a disappointing, unrounded film which never quite gets going.
There are, to be sure, several excellent moments but there are also too many which resemble other films of a similar, sort-of, nature.
This film has collected three Golden Globe nominations and will certainly do well at the box office.
It's one of those lavish, overblown blockbusting epics which audiences seem to like.
Trouble is, for all its bluster it is really surprisingly lightweight.
Star Rating: 3/5
