Tom Cruise As The Last Samurai?

     

     First time I heard about this film I was, to say the least, very skeptical.  I thought to myself, How is Hollywood gonna pass off Tom Cruise as a Samurai?  The answer is they weren't even trying to.  The poster for the film only had his picture and the title so naturally all who looked upon it thought the same thing I did.  And I am a fan of his films.  So, when i finally get to see this movie I figured out that the title is referring to the last band of Samurai.  Cruise is just a character in a story about the downfall of the Samurai.
     First time I watched this was shortly after it's DVD release. I got it through Netflix back when there was no such thing as streaming.  It was on two DVDs and I had no idea it was such a long movie.  After watching it I was hooked.  This film is so damn good!  The acting is top notch from the American actors to some of the best Japanese actors alive today.  I have absolutely no problem with any of them.  And a little side note is The woman playing Taka, Koyuki, is such a classic Japanese beauty that it's hard to stop looking at her.  The set design is spectacular.  The costumes are spot on.  Great music.  Awesome Samurai fight sequences.  An outstanding story of redemption, honor and love.  Another thing about this movie that makes it stand out is it is an American film that is set in Japan.  Now, most of the time when Americans make a film like this one they tend to make it exclusively in English.  Nothing annoys me more than that.  When you put the language barrier into this film it adds to the characters and the story by showing how they get over that.  So I love the fact it has the subtitles during the Japanese language areas, of which there are alot of them.
     I have to advise all to watch this.  Even if you don't normally like Asian film or Tom Cruise, check it out because it may change your mind.  This is probably in my top 5 films I have ever seen in my life, and I have seen alot of them.