Movie: The Last Samurai

[Tillers_Rule]

O.K. so I have'nt seen the movie yet, just the previews, but am I the only one who thinks this is a knockoff of some sorts ofDances with Wolves ?

Let's see, a guy is fighting a foreign enemy, in a foreign land, then he becomes captured and turns sympathetic so he becomes one of them?

Of course since the movie hasn't come out yet I could be totally off, but thats all I can think about when I see the ads for it.

http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/contrib/edoom/samurai.gif

[Rocko]

hmm...haven't really been paying attention to the previews...

i dunno...i've read a book about the samurai way (hagakure), and i don't think it's something you can just pick up in a couple weeks...i think you have to be raised a samurai.

i'd love to see a real movie about real samurais, but i just think this one will be like the "biker boyz" of samurai movies.

[Tillers_Rule]

I guess you could be right about having to be raised in the tradition, but like I said, I hav'nt seen the movie yet, but thats what Im getting from it.

[TFK_in_Mass]

I've seen a sneak preview of it and lemme tell you guys and gals:

IT...IS...AWESOME. Definitely worth my 10 bucks.

(not the greatest movie I've ever seen, though, but very, very good.)

It's more refined than "Dances With Wolves" and is a lot less ego-centric than "Braveheart"

It is subtle enough to where the suspension of disbelief kicks in and you can believe that a drunk-ass Tom Cruise can live among the Samurai.

There are a lot of references to the old Kurosawa Samurai movies in it. It has a similar flow.

The battle scenes are very well composed.

The acting is remarkably effective, although I didn't think the language barrier was elegantly handled.

And the girls in it were hot. :D

[Iyindo]

I'm so into epics. I really wanna see this. The LA premiere party is at my work and I'm pissed that I don't get to go, but I'm hitting up the theatres as soon as it comes out!

[Dom]

yeah swords are cool I'll have to check it out

[sandie]

it does look like a beautiful movie

i'm looking forward to seeing it

[Dom]

Originally posted by Rocko
hmm...haven't really been paying attention to the previews...

i dunno...i've read a book about the samurai way (hagakure), and i don't think it's something you can just pick up in a couple weeks...i think you have to be raised a samurai.

i'd love to see a real movie about real samurais, but i just think this one will be like the "biker boyz" of samurai movies.

http://realultimatepower.net Not samuri's but never a truer account of ninjas have I found

[freshcoast]

http://realultimatepower.net Not samuri's but never a truer account of ninjas have I found

Yes, excellent resource. My first hand experience with ninjas can vouch for that site. So if you're interested in Ninjas, go there. If you're interested in Electrical Engineers, go here: http://www.rpi.edu/~harmsj/RUPEE/. They are sweet too.

[Rocko]

cool...thanks for the ninja link...does it have any info on the great white ninja?:p

fresh: wha? firsthand experience with ninjas?

RPI....hmm...almost went to that school...glad i didn't. i'm bet that because of the combination of the atrocious guy/girl ratio and being confined indoors because of the awful weather, it's like "OZ"

[Iyindo]

i just realized that Samurai was directed by Ed Zwick yesterday... now i REALLY have to see it. it's been my experience that zwick can draw out amazing performances from people. he also tends to use James Horner almost religiously for music, which isn't always a good thing, but whatever.

I think ahmo go see this tomallow, so I'll give a full review then.

[Monte]

Originally posted by Iyindo
i just realized that Samurai was directed by Ed Zwick yesterday... now i REALLY have to see it. it's been my experience that zwick can draw out amazing performances from people. he also tends to use James Horner almost religiously for music, which isn't always a good thing, but whatever.

I think ahmo go see this tomallow, so I'll give a full review then.
Ed Zwick? He produced I Am Sam (http://mrcranky.com/movies/iamsam.html). How good could he possibly be?

[dnakase]

Samurai?

Here's the Korean version

(I gota get back into the dojo :sad: )


http://www.socalsvriders.com/albums/album21/Picture_037.sized.jpg

P.S. I got my 1st S.A.G. voucher on Last Samurai. If I'm in the picture at all I'm blocking a door that wouldn't close on the Warner Bros. backlot.

[Tillers_Rule]

The Korean version looks much more exciting

[dnakase]

1st review????

It didn't suck, much.

Spoiler

















































































Tom Cruse's character didn't die. Even after being:

Stabbed multiple times with a spear

Beaten several about the head and shoulders with a boken (Wooden sword)

Hit in the spleen with a rifle

Shot by a Gatling Gun

[wadaribaba]

Just got back from the movie. It was pretty good. Yeah, I agree wit the spoilers above.... but, thats hollywood.
The movie definitely has it's moments. Good photography, decent direction. The fight scenes were cool, although there werent really any extended sword fights. I might even go see it again.

Now, the most irritating thing was this moron who kept laughin during some of the most serious moments in the movie. :mad:

So, go see the move. (and suspend your belief for a while :) )

[Iyindo]

Loved it! I'm thinking I'll prolly see it again while it's still in theaters.

It's kind of obvious and derivative in some respects, but there's no denying that it's very poetically done, I think. And Zwick always tells a story well.

I loved the sword fighting, and -- as someone who sort of familiar with Eastern spirituality and monastic culture -- I found there was a lot of depth to it. As well as to other things.

Anyway -- I'd highly recommend it.

[TIE_Pilot]

It was an excellent movie... but, the samurai weren't all good guys, they also used to beat down the peasants, etc., and the run up to their being outlawed/discredited wasn't quite as one-sided as the movie presents.

[susan]

I want to suspend my disbelief.

[dnakase]

This is just a small part of what Last Samurai glossed over. (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2130.html)

Thoug... after reading it too glosses over Japan's treatment of Koreans and Chinese... and our aquisition of their vary advanced bio-wepons research at the end of WWII. (For which no one was ever prosecuted in Japan or International War Tribunal. I guess there will always be more Chinese than you can kill with bio agents.)

[Rocko]

Originally posted by dnakase
This is just a small part of what Last Samurai glossed over. (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2130.html)

Thoug... after reading it too glosses over Japan's treatment of Koreans and Chinese... and our aquisition of their vary advanced bio-wepons research at the end of WWII. (For which no one was ever prosecuted in Japan or International War Tribunal. I guess there will always be more Chinese than you can kill with bio agents.)

yup, i read a book about bioweapons...talked about that research...turned my stomach reading about that stuff.

and as for the spoiler...damn...if they could make tom cruise handle all that punishment, how come tony montana couldn't defend his home? he's cubano, mang.

[Padu]

I saw this movie with a bunch of friends, and among them one japanese guy (he came from tokyo to here two years ago). At the end of the movie, he was explaining a few things to us, and suddenly, there was this crowd around us trying to hear what he was talking... funny.
It turned to be almost a presentation on samurai costumes... and why the movie is named "The last samurai" and why Tom Cruise became "The last samurai"