film: The Last Samurai

[djwhirlpool]

i've watched a few documentaries on the samurai after this movie came out and i learned that the samurai were pretty much the bad guys, but for the hollywood affect, they made you feel sorry for them.

 

[JV]

i just saw this movie yesterday and i really enjoyed it. it has made me interested in learning about the samurais history now. 4 out of 5 stars.

 

[alasdairm]

i saw this recently. two caveats: i generally like tom cruise; i was completely stoned.

i enjoyed it very much. i felt it was a bit slow to start and i assumed that the plot had very little to do with a factual account. the costumes and cinematography were wonderful.

alasdair

 

[tambourine-man]

i highly suggest renting the dvd even if you saw this film in the theater. theres a ton of bonus footage and behind the scenes type of stuff that is really interesting.

one special feature that i really like is the history channel min doc on the historical accuracy of the film. all of the events are based on truth but obviously the story is fictional. it gives a bit of history on samurai and how their role in society had all but disappeared with feudalism. pretty intersting stuff. also some awesome "shorts" on the costumes and weapons used in the film. for sure worth checking out if not owning

Ugh! I watched the additional documentaries yesterday and they were incredibly annoying. I almost laughed out loud when a "historian" said something along the lines of: "In real life, the Samurai, well... these were the baaaaad guys. We wanted to bring demaaaaaaacracy to Japan." :D

For the record, I thought the film was great - both times of seeing it. I totally forgot that I was watching Cruise and fell in love with the cinematography.