The Last Samurai (2004, DVD)

Reviewed by: Carl Lazarevic
Genre: Action Adventure
Video: 2.35:1 Anamorphic NTSC
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, French and Spanish
Length: 154 min
Rating: R
Release Date: 07/05/2004
Studio: Warner Bros Home Entertainment
Commentary: Edward Zwick Commentary
Documentaries: History Vs Hollywood: The Last Samurai, Director's Video Journal, Making An Epic: A Conversation With Edward Zwick
Featurettes: Imperial Army Basic Traning, Tom Cruise: A Warrior's Journey, A World Of Detail: Production Design With Lilly Kilvert, Silk And Armor: Costume Design With Ngila Dickson, From Soldier To Samurai: The Weapons, Japan Premiere Footage
Biographies: None
Interviews: None
Trailers/TV Spots: Theatrical Trailer
Alternate/Deleted Scenes: 2 Deleted Scenes
Music Video: None
Other: "Bushido: The Way Of A Warrior" text notes, DVD-ROM

Review: Of all the films I saw last year Director Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai stands out as one of my favorites. My reasons are simple; ever since I started watching the films of Akira Kurosawa I've become a huge fan of samurai movies. It's simply the whole mythos behind them; their honour system, dedicated training, and focused life style simply strikes me as much more interesting then any fantasy goblins and orcs combo could ever acquire. Now in spite of all that The Last Samurai has received criticism for it's historical inaccuracies of which I am now well aware, however my own feelings for the film have remained unchanged, simply because the story remains strong in the arena of an action adventure, and it's sense of style and technical proficiency has been unmatched all year.

The Last Samurai stars Tom Cruise (Minority Report) as Nathan Algren, a complex character whose experiences with the native americans has left him brooding in a terminal state of self loathing. However since his superiors are aware of his loss of cares they decide to make use of this trauma by hiring him to train an army in Japan to be ready for a battle against the guardians of the old ways; Japan's legendary samurai warriors. By the end of this armies first battle Nathan finds himself captured by the Samurai whose leader has become intrigued with this new enemy. Forced to stay in the samurai village by harsh winter conditions Nathan begins to observe them, becoming moved by their code of honour and deep sense of dedication, until eventually, in the village of his enemy, he discovers the inner peace that his life has been devoid of for too long.

Now I'll be the first to admit that there are similarities there to Dances With Wolves. Yet I still disagree on it's rip off label as The Last Samurai is a film about accepting responsibility for ones own actions. It's not a new concept, and the film lacks the sheer profound depth of a Kurosawa masterpiece, but still remains and incredibly strong story full of complex characters, funny in all the right places, but never at the detriment to the serious drama that is being told.

What really grabbed me about the film was not its story though, but rather it was the stylish treatment that would have made Kurosawa himself proud. The first area I picked up on was the films cinematography. There's one shot in particular; it was early in the film and saw the samurai riding out of the fog, that sent shivers down my spine. However later on Zwick's amazing use of landscapes makes for some breathtaking scenes that upped the emotional resonance no end. I particularly liked the village that works as the center of the story. It's mount Fiji backdrop (an amazing CGI effect) was absolutely gorgeous whether it was being complimented by blankets of either pink blossoms or white snow.

Hans Zimmer manages to compliment the cinematography again. His score is used throughout the film to really heighten the emotional resonance. Brimming just above the surface for the most part, before bursting forth into a different song as the action scenes break out. Zimmer at times literally takes away the need for dialogue since his emotionally resonant score has the ability to say more than words could ever truly convey.

Those 2 points really come together during the amazingly choreographed action scenes though. There's one samurai Vs ninja sequence that really defines this, with hyper fast editing and extremely realistic effects that help to portray the absolutely uncontrollable nature of this violence. Some scenes involving military precision did manage to slow down, but most of the time it's all about the visceral and decidedly brutal nature that such uncontrolable moments portray.

There are many surface details I could point out; the perfectly authentic costume work and the like, but I really do want to move forward and tell you about this films acting. I know a lot of people had a problem with Cruise; he is a superstar after all and people tend to be unable to let go of past works whenever a superstar is concerned. However I believe claims that he was playing himself are false. Cruise's typical sure of himself character is nowhere to be found in Algran, a character who feels nothing but self loathing. During the early scenes Cruise drenches every line of dialogue in this self loathing, he makes jokes with bitter sarcasm and brings alive every nuance that defines Algran as a complex character.

Ken Watanabe (MacArthur's Children); who plays The Last Samurai of the title, shares a great deal of chemistry with Cruise, but again shines even when he's on his own. From the first moment that the character is introduced, through to the films finale, Watanabe uses his face to tell a thousand stories. His eyes convey more feelings, more ideas and more expressiveness than mere dialogue ever could. Plus when he is actually talking he has this ability to really draw you in with subtle tones in his voice, tones of pride, anger and even humour are all successfully given life by this incredibly talented actor.

Also Taka, the woman looking after Algren, is always polite, smiling and never saying a bad thing to his face, yet thanks to the performance by Koyuki (Spy Sorge) you get tell that the character is set to burst from all of her despair. It's an excellent thing when a supporting cast member is not only capable, but dedicated enough to give a performance as honest as this, and in The Last Samurai you will find a lot of them.

In order to summarize this review all I can think of to say is that The Last Samurai is very much an old school samurai movie with modern battle sequences. It features action and drama, with well timed humour intermittently (especially Billy Connoly) that all comes together to produce what I will happily call One of the best films of 2003.

Image and Sound: Both audio and visually this set has been given a wonderful transfer. Battle scenes come alive as the 5.1 Dolby sound booms throughout the room, and dialogue comes through nice and clear so that you can really take in the storytelling nature of the film.

Visually it was superb; in regards to a 3 hour plus film at least. The compression was a little lower than a much shorter film and unfortunately it does show through during some of the close-ups. However the colours are vibrant and; like Lord Of The Rings before it, the breathtaking locations stand out from anything else in your home theatre get up.

The Extras: The second disk is somewhat full of informative information, 3 pages worth to be precise. The first; 'Tom Cruise: A Warriors Journey' is a 13 minute feature that interviews both Cruise and a few other crew members and has them talk about the character of Nathan Algram, what they felt they accomplished with him and what Cruise felt he brought the role. It was interesting and well made, with quite an insight into Cruise's thought pattern during the films production.

'Edward Zwick: Directors Video Journal' was amazing. It runs for over 25 minutes and sees Zwick talking you through every aspect of the film making. He goes through the technicalities , the props, what he was hoping to achieve with certain scenes. Everything! It is unfortunate that Zwick has a kind of boring monotone voice because it made concentrating difficult. Yet concentrate I did and the results were well worth the effort. I'm just not looking forward to the 3 hour commentary is all.

'Making An Epic: A Conversation With Edward Zwick And Tom Cruise' runs at around 18 minutes and was yet another interesting feature. After single handedly walking you through the film Director and Star team up for a third tour. They bring out the best in each other though; Zwick seeming to liven up and Cruise seeming less full of himself, as they talk you through everything from Zwick's intentions to create an old fashioned action epic, how he hoped the battles would go and other such things designed to get you into the directors line of thought. Out of the initial 3 features, this is by far the best one.

At 22 minutes 'History Vs Hollywood: The Last Samurai' is a surprisingly honest look into the films historical inaccuracies. It discusses the various things the film got right; costumes, settings and stuff, and what it gets completely wrong; the depiction of samurai as completely noble warriors, in a completely unbiased way. Those that took offense at those inaccuracies will enjoy this one, not for how it will change their minds, but for how it will prove their own line of reasoning without being condescending about it.

At just 7 minutes 'A World Of Detail: Production Design With Lilly Kilvert' is one of the disk's shorter features. Nevertheless it remains at absorbing look into the production of the films amazing locations, mainly the village that the body of the film takes place in. I particularly enjoyed this one for the way that it highlighted the different technical ideas used throughout filming, from getting the breathtaking location, to authentically recreating the village and most impressively the CGI work that I had completely missed prior to viewing this feature. Highly recommended.

Say what you will about the film but it's costume design is near unmatched. 'Silk And Armour: Costume Design With Ngila Dickson' is a 6 and a half minute feature that looks into this. Not quite as detailed this as the production design feature, this one still manages to look at a large number of the films costumes, including Cruise's brown jacket, and of course his Samurai Armour.

'Imperial Army Basic Training' offers a quick 5 minute look into the basic training; their time at boot camp learning to handle the weapons and the like. It was brief but concise; offering enough info to please whilst never wandering too far off topic.

'From Soldier To Samurai: The Weapons' was yet another concise 5 minute feature looking at the film from a battle perspective. This time it was in the weapons; how they were made, how authentic they were and how they were trained. It finds the time to look through all of the films weapons, from the swords and death stars, to guns and cannons, even finding time to discuss the bows and arrows. For fans of the film I would call this another highly recommended view.

The first extra on the final page; 'Bushido: Way Of The Samurai' was simply a few pages of text describing Bushido; the honour code used by the samurai.

'Deleted Scenes'-There are 2 deleted scenes found on the disk, but what surprised me was that not only did they come with a commentary track explaining the cut, but the first also has an extra feature afterward explaining how they were done. "The Beheading" simply saw a samurai come into town at the films start, met some harassment and so cut the guys head off. It was a well done scene, but felt wrong in regards to the samurai code. It was cut for continuity reasons. "Algren And Katsumoto" was a dialogue scene between the 2 characters during a little training. Again the 2 shared a lot of chemistry, but as the commentary explains, it was unnecessary and so got cut for timing reasons.

'Japanese Premieres' was just like one of those old Granada clips taken from a premiere. It featured the cast talking about the film and their particular characters, but doesn't really tell you anything that you didn't already know.

'Theatrical Trailer' is the original teaser for the film, fast, well edited and just plain exciting. A must for trailer fans.

The film also comes packaged with the usual array of DVDRom eextras that are hardly worth mentioning.

Commentary: Zwick's commentary is one of the better commentaries of recent memory. You can tell that this is a director with a great passion for his work as he eloquently talks you through the film. Praising the deserving actors and admiring the scenery. Maybe my enjoyment was due to the fact that I completely agreed, but I certainly wasn't bored.

Final Words: I loved this film, it was intense, stylish and incredibly well made. Fans take note that the DVD definitely does it justice.