I saw it on friday when it came out and I thought it was amazing. I used to do a lot of traditional martial arts long time ago and have always been fascinated with the japanese culture and the way of the samurai...Regardless of that though I think the movie was just amazing...Anyone else saw it? Comments?
white man supposebly being "master samurai".. can only happen in the last samurai..
ok on topic: i've heard it's a good movie and the story is EXACTLY as the ancient japanese "meiji" era where swords ruled in that time.. i'm plannin to see it soon and most likely will not be dissapointed as i am interested the battles that take place.. and im aware of the "gattling gun" that was created too..
I saw it and it was a pretty good, emotional movie. That last charge where the Japanese Army busts out the gattling gun....wow. It doesn't surprise me though that Edward Zwick, the director, also directed GLORY (1989) about black soldiers in the American Civil War. Zwick is very good at filming war epics like these.
A few things though...the historical "accuracy" of this movie is non-existent. It was actually British and French officers who trained the Japanese Army in modern 19th century tactics and NOT Americans....and it was a combination of British, French, Russian AND American military arms that was negotiated...not just American. But American movies always stretch and distort history like this.
And I also think that they could have done this movie without Tom Cruise. His character, really, wasn't necessary. The Japanese actors were great and I think if Katsumoto had been the central character, the movie would have been better. But Hollywood always has to have the big American star in the lead....
Overal...8.5/10
I cannot fucking wait for Return of the King!
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Dec-10-2003 14:34
starsearcher
DigitalPunk on Flight643
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Toronto
The battles were definitely epic and amazing youre right...
And the actor playing Katsumoto was just amazing he definitely deserves a lot of acknowledgement...Also the actor who was the "trainer" I forgot his name but he was the teaching others how to use the sword and etc...
I think towards the end most of the people in the theatre were crying very emotional indeed.
Originally posted by starsearcher
The battles were definitely epic and amazing youre right...
And the actor playing Katsumoto was just amazing he definitely deserves a lot of acknowledgement...Also the actor who was the "trainer" I forgot his name but he was the teaching others how to use the sword and etc...
I think towards the end most of the people in the theatre were crying very emotional indeed.
yeah totally...I'm usually quite an emotionless person and NEVER get teared up in a theatre....but I was a little choked up after watching that last charge and seeing them all get mown down by the machine guns. Many people are anti-war these days and rightly so, but there's nothing like watching courage and valour on the battlefield in films.
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Dec-10-2003 14:49
brunette
viaggiatore
Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Europe
..will not succumb to american blockbusters
I hope this doesn't ignite Oscar buzz for Cruise..!
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Dec-10-2003 23:15
RaverFriendly
Senior tranceaddict
Registered: Nov 2000
Location: Toronto (Scarborough) Ontario
I saw it last night (good ol' cheapy Tuesdays)
anyways, it was probably the best movie i've seen in 2 years ....in terms of that type of movie. I thought it was better than Gladiator.
Anyone else die of laughter from the Emperor?? Gosh what was up with his girlish voice?? It killed me. The entire audience was laughing.!
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Dec-11-2003 00:00
infinity HiGH
groovin
Registered: Oct 2001
Location: west side T.O
saw it last night...amazing movie. The guy playing Katsumoto deserves AT LEAST an oscar nomination. I loved the battles too; very intense...and the music was great as well.
Dec-11-2003 00:08
mute79
..:culture vulture:..
Registered: Feb 2001
Location: in transit
can't wait to see it, maybe cuz i'm secretly hoping that its something like the masterpiece that is james clavell's novel "shogun"...
although judging by the reviews, its far from it
*sigh*
Dec-11-2003 00:29
starsearcher
DigitalPunk on Flight643
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Toronto
Hmmmm I haven't seen shogun so I can't really compare but this is definitely a masterpiece...I agree pretty much with everything said above, but I'm a Cruise fan so I don't agree that he was out of place...I'll give him lots of credit for putting so much effort in it though because unlike most action/martial arts movies where actors "learn to twist and kick" he was VERY good at what he was doing, for the short time of learning he did a very good job!
Anyways if you stil havent seen it and are going then hope you like as it as much as we did
Originally posted by TranceGeek
can't wait to see it, maybe cuz i'm secretly hoping that its something like the masterpiece that is james clavell's novel "shogun"...
although judging by the reviews, its far from it
*sigh*
Ohh its very far from it. But its a nice movie anyway. I agree with others in that the Japanese actors did an awesome job and the movie could have been done a little different to take the spotlight from Cruise. I dunno about it being better then Gladiator though.
I mentioned this b4 in a different thread. If you wanna see good sammurai movies then you have to watch old school Kurosawa movies. They were amazing.
Dec-11-2003 14:19
brunette
viaggiatore
Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Europe
quote:
Originally posted by che
I mentioned this b4 in a different thread. If you wanna see good sammurai movies then you have to watch old school Kurosawa movies. They were amazing.
Kurosawa is a totally different story! He's a legend
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