I saw *The Last Samurai* recently (IMDB:0325710). It was at the lower end of the movies I enjoyed. I was happy to see some typical Japanese elements – training with a wooden sword (bokken), Japanese houses, samurai armour.
I was rather unhappy about some of the typical Hollywood exagerations: When Tom Cruise fights the thugs in the streets of Tokio, the posture after the fight is ridiculous. Some of the nicer aspects of Zen have been cast into unnecessary words – like Ken Watanabe saying “Perfect” too often. The word “Honour” also appears way too often.
What I did like was that the Japanese spoke bad English, and Tom Cruise spoke bad Japanese. That was fair. 😄
I clearly prefer *Twilight Samurai* (IMDB:0351817) I saw 2003-12-27. There’s more about money, status, honor, humility, and two very short and very intense swordfights that look entirely plausible. Not at all like the endless slaughter in *The Last Samurai*. There, the main characters are shot multiple times and live, guards are shot by the dozens and never pile up...
My favorite quote from one of the user comments on the IMDB:
It is simply not genuine, only the best the money can buy. – João Loff
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