In The Last Samurai, two recent Hollywood trends come together.

Firstly, it fits with the continued resurgence of the historical epic over the last decade, prompted by the success of Braveheart and Gladiator.

Secondly, it demonstrates the popularity of the 'Eastern' (as opposed to the Western), by which I mean Tinseltown's growing appreciation (and some would say appropriation) of all things Far Eastern, from Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.

Tom Cruise, ever the shrewd operator, rides both waves in The Last Samurai, playing Captain Nathan Algren, a fictional hero of the American Civil War and scourge of Native Americans, reduced to touring 1870s USA extolling the virtues of Winchester rifles for $25 per week.

He's rescued from the bottom of a whisky glass by old pal Zebulon Grant (Connolly) who, along with Algren's old commander Colonel Bagley (Goldwyn), secures him a position teaching the Japanese Imperial Army modern warfare techniques.

For the USA, it's a valuable trading opportunity (it is to be sole supplier of munitions) while for the ambitious Japanese leadership, it presents a chance to suppress the Samurai uprising that threatens its modernising agenda.

After the first skirmish with his new enemy however, Algren is taking prisoner by Samurai leader, Katsumoto (Watanabe) and held in a remote village. After the initial, inevitable culture clash, Algren not only comes to respect and learn about the way of the Samurai, but follows it himself.

Yet the Imperial forces are massing, newly armed with guns and cannons, to eradicate the Samurai - and all they stand for - once and for all.

A clash of civilisations is the backdrop of Algren's story; the old ways of life threatened by the steamroller of modernity and industrialisation. Of course, we know what must win in the end, but the moral victory is with the Samurai.

For Tom Cruise, this is a part of substance and complexity that he handles well. Even more impressive are Ken Watanabe - conveying charm, charisma and steely resolve as Katsumoto and Koyuik as Taka, Algren's bereaved nurse.

Director Edward Zwick has crafted an epic which is both visually arresting and absorbing narratively. 19th century Japan and the Samurai village are beautifully recreated, while the fight sequences are graceful and gruesome, without a Matrix style 'bullet-time' sequence in sight.

The film does have its slow passages where you begin to will the action on a bit, but overall this is a good start to the cinematic New Year.

Darryl Webber

Published Wednesday January 7, 2003

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