Civil War Captain
Nathan Algren (Cruise) is brought to Japan to train a fledgling
army to fight Samurai who are against the westernizing of Japan.
However, after he is captured by the renegade Samurai, he begins
to find that their way of life is something worth fighting for.
CRITIQUE
When I saw The Last
Samurai in theaters I felt that it was a beautifully made
epic in the sense that it created a fine balance between history
and fiction. However, when thinking about the DVD release, I was a
little worried. Sometimes the beauty of these epics is lost on the
small screen, yet watching it again on DVD I found that my worries
were for naught. The Last Samurai still holds you in its
home release format.
Director Edward Zwick successfully recreates the cultural mixing
that was 19th century Japan. Upon Algren's arrival in Tokyo, we
see how Japan was quick to adopt the modern styles of western
countries and incorporate them into their own. We are also shown
the strong traditional styles that the Samurai fight to protect,
and are given the opportunity to see how and why the
traditionalists and the modernists are fighting. The opportunity
to view things from both sides is a luxury that some epics of
this type hardly ever give us.
Tom Cruise gives a very good performance, showing us that he can
do more than smile and look good on screen. Cruise shows us
Algren's tortured mind without ever mugging the screen. Even the
bits of humor that are interspersed in the film are not forced.
They flow naturally with the scenes, rather than being a point to
let Cruise be funny. However, the real star of the film, in my opinion, is Ken
Watanabe. Watanabe's Katsumoto is a fascinating character. Just
a simple glance from the actor gives us everything we need to know
about what the character is thinking.
Unlike other films of late (such as Timeline) where the battles
lack energy and seem to be a hindrance on the film, Last
Samurai's
scenes are intense and flow beautifully. There are only a few
scenes of digital soldiers, and these scenes appear briefly. Zwick
doesn't settle for long shots of hordes of (sometimes really bad
looking) fake soldiers whaling on each other like in The Lord
of the Rings films. We get to see real people smack each other
around, a visual that always makes the battle scenes credible.
My only complaint with the film (and after hearing Zwick's
explanation of it, I understand what was being done) is the film's
ending. The end of the film seems far too Hollywood and almost
seems as though it betrays some of the themes of the film. The
final shots of the film left a sour taste in my mouth as they seem to exist simply because Cruise is
film's star.
But then, I've never been too big a fan of the Hollywood ending
when it comes to historical epics.
THE VIDEO
The transfer is
beautiful. The colors are rich and textured while the black levels
are consistent. There is no grain whatsoever, but there is a
little bit of digital artifacting (just right before the disc
skips, but I will talk about that later.)
THE AUDIO
The film is
presented in Dolby 5.1 Surround, in both English and French, and
makes very good use of it. The balance of sound effects, ambience,
dialogue and music is perfect. The dialogue is clear and is never
buried underneath the sound effects or music. It's a very good
presentation.
THE EXTRAS
Disc 1: Edward
Zwick commentary
Edward Zwick's commentary is very informative. He spends
the entire film talking about the themes of the film, the
responses, how difficult it is for an American to direct a film
about Japanese history and not offend the culture. The track doesn't go
too far into the technical aspects of the film; Zwick seems to
be keeping the commentary open to all listeners rather than film
people.
Disc 2: Deleted Scenes; History Channel's History vs.
Hollywood; Tom Cruise: A Warrior's Journey; Edward Zwick:
Director's Video Journal; A Conversation with Edward Zwick and
Tom Cruise; Production design, costume design; Imperial army
basic training; From Soldier to Samurai: weapons; Japan
premiers; Bushido;
The special features are interesting, but very repetitive.
Deleted Scenes: There are two scenes here. The first is a
scene in which a Samurai decapitates an imperial officer,
followed by a mini "making of" segment that explains how the
decapitation effect was done. The other is a brief scene between
Algren and Katsumoto that has a few good lines of dialogue, but
nothing that needed to be in the film.
History vs. Hollywood: This short has interviews with Zwick,
Tom Cruise, and others about how close to history Last Samurai
actually is. It's a nice little featurette.
Tom Cruise: A Warrior's Journey: Cruise, Zwick, and
others talk about the actor's role in the film and how the character
grows over the course of his imprisonment from a self-hating man
to a man who has something worth living and dying for.
Director's Video Journal: Zwick's on-set thoughts set to
various behind the scenes videos. Much of what he talks about is
on the commentary track, in one form or another.
A
Conversation with Zwick and Cruise: This is, pretty much, the
"making of" feature on this disc. Cruise and Zwick talk about what
they both saw in the film's script and later on during the
production of the film. They also talk about the themes of the
film as well as other things that have been brought up in the
commentary track and other featurettes.
Production Design/Costume Design: These two documentaries look
at the production and costuming. Not my interest really, but
they are very informative.
Imperial Army Basic Training: A documentary that shows the
different aspects of training that the army extras went through
in order to become the perfect imperial soldiers.
From Soldier to Samurai: Weapons: A mini doc about the weapons
used in the film.
Japan Premiers: We are given the opportunity to watch the Tokyo
and Kyoto premieres and interviews.
Bushido: A description of the seven parts of bushido: Honor &
justice, polite courtesy, heroic courage, honor, compassion,
complete sincerity, and duty & loyalty.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The DVD presentation is
good, but at the same time, flawed. There are moments in the film when
the disc will skip to a previous scene. At first I thought that there
was a problem with my DVD player, however it happened again on a
separate player. Maybe this glitch will be caught before the DVD
streets in a week, but it seems unlikely.
Other than that, I recommend this DVD for all fans of historical
fiction, war epics, and action films. The slower pace of the film may
throw a few viewers off, but the action will bring them back in.
