The Last Samurai [ no spoiler starter thread - I don't guarantee further ]

[MaGi kOz]

The movie ROCKED! FUCK MAN IT WAS DOPE!

Anyways. EVERY ANIME fan should definitely watch this. You'll feel like you're watching another anime with a great plot with great characters you'll just love.
Even if you're not an anime fan, watch it. It has a good deal of action and a good deal of drama. Not too much of either and it's deep. I'd compare this movie to "Gladiator" but further east and with an asian's touch. I give it 1384128974123192873 thumbs up if I had that many. But of course this is just a biased review from a person who really loved the movie and it's story. Oh BTW. The story was great too.




p.s. I was able to watch the movie the day before it released because I can. I am the almighty SAMURAI!! MUAHAH Man was I too into that movie, or what?

[cundor]

I am shocked and amazed

[Emaho]

Hero was awsome when they fighted outside in the leafs.

[Dameon Angell]

lol, i like the disclaimer in the thread title

"... - I dont guarantee further]"

[Bluedandy]

I want to see this, but my friend pointed something out to me. If I went, I'd be yelling at the screen because of some wrongness portrayed in some minute cultural thing. There was already that scene in a preview where Cruise fully unsheathes his sword in front of a legoin of samurai and who I assume is their lord, or a daimyo. Even whitey instinct of mine tells me not to goddamn do that.

Does Tom Cruise speak whitey Japanese? I'd pay just to see that.

[MaGi kOz]

Originally posted by Bluedandy
I want to see this, but my friend pointed something out to me. If I went, I'd be yelling at the screen because of some wrongness portrayed in some minute cultural thing. There was already that scene in a preview where Cruise fully unsheathes his sword in front of a legoin of samurai and who I assume is their lord, or a daimyo. Even whitey instinct of mine tells me not to goddamn do that.

Does Tom Cruise speak whitey Japanese? I'd pay just to see that.

yes: "go...go.. gomana... gomanasai- gomenasai"


what do you mean by "wrongness portrayed in some minute cultural thing"?

go watch the movie first. previews leave many to question.

[Melufa]

Great movie, battles were kick ass, and I think all the parts were played great. I especially like the head samurai, he was cool. And it was a good three hours long, <3 long movies

And what would you expect? Cruise is white , he's not going to naturally know how to speak correct Japanese. Especially if he's living in post-Civil War America. It's only accurate.

[Cylor]

Well, I liked the movie (It was Japanese Braveheart, who wouldn't like it). There were a few parts that were questionable:

[SPOILERS]

Like, at the end when the picture guy was at the last battle...how did he just walk away? Did he take the back route? And why at the last battle did the Japanese guards scream out commands in English? Is there any sense in screaming out "Fire the cannon!" to a bunch of Japanese peasants? And last but not least (and certainly not the end of all my questions but rather the ones I will put on here) why didn't Tom Cruise speak his fluent Japanese (of which he demonstrated when speaking to Tada and her son) to the Emperor at the end? Argh, makes me angry but I guess you just have to let some things slide.

[/SPOILERS]

Complaints aside, it was a good movie (and also pretty long and gives you a chance to get into the plot). Go see it, one of the better movies this year.

[MaGi kOz]

Originally posted by CyloR

[SPOILERS]

1. Like, at the end when the picture guy was at the last battle...how did he just walk away? Did he take the back route? 2. And why at the last battle did the Japanese guards scream out commands in English? Is there any sense in screaming out "Fire the cannon!" to a bunch of Japanese peasants? 3. And last but not least (and certainly not the end of all my questions but rather the ones I will put on here) why didn't Tom Cruise speak his fluent Japanese (of which he demonstrated when speaking to Tada and her son) to the Emperor at the end? Argh, makes me angry but I guess you just have to let some things slide.

[/SPOILERS]

1. yes. he took the back route.
2. they were being trained for a few months under english AND japanese. like tom cruise who learned some japanese, so did the japanese peasants who learned some english. if someone yelled at you in some utterance you don't understand and you later learned it meant to shoot your fukking gun, hearing it again would be easy to respond to.
3. tom didn't speak to him in japanese because he probably wanted the ENGLISH generals (or whatever) that were in the room to understand what he was saying- and in addition, the emperor was speaking in english as well. and to add to it, he probably didn't know ENOUGH japanese to speak of what they spoke of in their conversation.

c'mon now. BRING ON SOME MORE QUESTIONS!

[jiu jitsu]

i have a few things to say about the movie
i think that the director had to retain a few cultural errors in an effort to make the movie understandable to the average american moviegoer. on that note, imo the director (or whoever) did a good job of finding a happy medium between presenting japanese culture as best as he could without estranging the audience...

apparently the last samurai was to be making a bid for the oscars, but i think that this half-mangling of the cultural aspect was a little unappealing... also, the plot line was a little rough around the edges. tom cruise doesn't help any (even though i can't relaly picture any other star in his place). this movie was suited to little more than the title of "popcorn thriller" in my eyes (i can't see it winning an oscar, especially in comparison to other cultural movies like crouching tiger)

oh yeah. i was making a lot of mental, obligatory comparisons to kenshin throughout the movie.

"so bob, are you a ladies' man?"

[Cylor]

SPOILERS

Originally posted by MaGi kOz
1. yes. he took the back route.
2. they were being trained for a few months under english AND japanese. like tom cruise who learned some japanese, so did the japanese peasants who learned some english. if someone yelled at you in some utterance you don't understand and you later learned it meant to shoot your fukking gun, hearing it again would be easy to respond to.
3. tom didn't speak to him in japanese because he probably wanted the ENGLISH generals (or whatever) that were in the room to understand what he was saying- and in addition, the emperor was speaking in english as well. and to add to it, he probably didn't know ENOUGH japanese to speak of what they spoke of in their conversation.

c'mon now. BRING ON SOME MORE QUESTIONS!

1. The back route, eh? I would have definitely taken that if I was there.

2. Do you speak Spanish to the kids in your Spanish class when you are certainly fluent in English and know they are to? Would you be more likely to understand more thorouhly and quickly what they were saying is they were speaking in Spanish rather than English? And for the record, it wasn't American generals spouting out commands, it was the Japanese generals yelling English commands to a Japanese army.

3. There were no English generals in the room at the time. There was one American ambassador and one translator. Seeing as how the whole 20 or so Japanese counsel was their with the Emperor, it would make more sense to speak Japanese to the Japanese Emperor who speaks VERY LITTLE English. The translator could have easily translated for the one English-speaking ambassador in the room.

4. How did the Samurai leader (I forget his name, it was really hard to pronounce) keep his head continually shaved throughout the movie (a time period of what, 6 months?)? Why did Tom Cruise's enormous beard not grow to enormous proportions and stay in its neatly trimmed fashion? Did they have shaving cream and razors?

:P

[MaGi kOz]

Re: SPOILERS

Originally posted by CyloR
1. The back route, eh? I would have definitely taken that if I was there.

2. Do you speak Spanish to the kids in your Spanish class when you are certainly fluent in English and know they are to? Would you be more likely to understand more thorouhly and quickly what they were saying is they were speaking in Spanish rather than English? And for the record, it wasn't American generals spouting out commands, it was the Japanese generals yelling English commands to a Japanese army.

3. There were no English generals in the room at the time. There was one American ambassador and one translator. Seeing as how the whole 20 or so Japanese counsel was their with the Emperor, it would make more sense to speak Japanese to the Japanese Emperor who speaks VERY LITTLE English. The translator could have easily translated for the one English-speaking ambassador in the room.

4. How did the Samurai leader (I forget his name, it was really hard to pronounce) keep his head continually shaved throughout the movie (a time period of what, 6 months?)? Why did Tom Cruise's enormous beard not grow to enormous proportions and stay in its neatly trimmed fashion? Did they have shaving cream and razors?

:P

1. yup.

2. the japanese dude was white wash. plus. he can yell english and there were already japanese captains within the crowds who spoke to them in japanese anyways. what's the point of asking anyways? the choice was his and his alone. if i asked you why did you watch the movie and you said cuz "i thought the movie would be great". Why not just say "cuz i wanted to"? it's all in your head.

3. the translator was that snobby asshole that didn't like tom. why would he translate? he would probably translate it to some bullshit that he doesn't want the emperor to hear. and maybe the emperor wanted to show that he can do things on HIS OWN without having someone translate for him. watch the movie again.

4. yes. they use razors. they most likely had NO shaving cream back then. they probably just used water and some razor or maybe even their own swords. who knows. this is just a bunch of shit that only a person like you notice and not enjoy a movie because of this.

you remind me of one of my friends. they can never enjoy a movie cuz of technicalities they notice like "OMG HIS HAND WAS IN A DIFFERENT POSITION AS FROM THE LAST SHOT! GRR". that's not the point of a movie. it can be fun sometimes like in that movie NEXT FRIDAY. I found scenes where ice cube was wearing one pair of shoes and in the next cut he's wearing a different set then camera shows someone else and back on him and he's back to his original pair. SHIT LIKE THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD BE POINTING OUT. NOT LIKE "WHY DIDN'T HE SPEAK IN ENGLISH INSTEAD OF JAPANESE WHEN THE CROWD HE WAS TALKING TO WAS ALL JAPANESE?" It's all in the context or mind of the being in question, really.

[splatz]

for the speaking of english to the emperor in the last part, would it have had more of an effect for you? (the deep meaning behind it) if you were reading subtitles? thought so. it was the subtitle thing that killed crouching tiger something dragon, heh.

oh and yea, i didn't wanna see it either, i thought they shoulda left the samuri thing to japanese people lol


i win.

[Heatha]

One of the best movies I saw all year. I even had a tear at the end.

[MaGi kOz]

Originally posted by splatz
for the speaking of english to the emperor in the last part, would it have had more of an effect for you? (the deep meaning behind it) if you were reading subtitles? thought so. it was the subtitle thing that killed crouching tiger something dragon, heh.

oh and yea, i didn't wanna see it either, i thought they shoulda left the samuri thing to japanese people lol


i win.

noting on crouching tiger hidden dragon: subtitles are usually best because you can best feel the emotion behind the TRUE ACTORS behind the characters- you can hear the REAL ACTORS speak their lines in the emotion that they convey, not some AMERICAN fool who comes in and probably most likely doesn't know what the fuck the foreigner was trying to convey before him. American dubbing has proven notorious in it's past of foreign asian movies. for example- they would have the WRONG voice for the WRONG character. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was NOT killed at all by it's subtitles, it is YOU who killed it for (probably) being a slow reader- if not, just disliking to read at all.

on and to comment on Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon's dubbing in it's second version: it was pretty damn good. They got the original actors from the movie to dub it in english. Pretty rare to actually get good dubbing in english from an asian movie. =)