I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

Banzai!!
Managed to catch the premiere of The Last Samurai. I thought it was ok. Not a mindblowing film, not a mindblowing story, touching as it might be. I prefer to see the way of the Samurai through Samurai eyes, I am tired of that Hollywood gloss over everything. Everything’s so simplisticly black and white, loyal-subject-and-weak-ruler that it’s just naive.

So instead, I’ll tell you what I thought about Tom Cruise. He looked old and haggard, probably appropriately so. I don’t know if he tried to put on weight for the movie so he’d look like someone who’s been on the drink a long time, but I’m convinced he was packing a paunch there. I haven’t seen him so scruffy for a while, so it was a nice change. The only time he looked worse (and the movie was far worse) was Born on the Fourth of July.

This is one of this better looking moments in the movie

The Samurais were amazing. Granted it’s a western view of the people, but seeing them ride in on their horses out of the fog, in that garb was awe inspiring. I love that mask they wear.

My favourite scene

Ken Watanabe did a pretty cool turn as the Samurai Numero Uno, Katsumoto. He looks capable of far better though.

Ken Watanabe

My favourite by far is the crazyass Samurai Ujio, played by Hiroyuki Sanada. Apparently he was also in Twilight Samurai (Tasogare seibei (2002)), a Japanese film I wanted to catch but missed. I will get it on DVD though.

Hiroyuki Sanada

Check out Koyuki, who plays Tom Cruise’s love interest and the token female in the movie. Andrea says she looks like Gong Li. A little bit, I guess.

Koyuki’s birthdate is 18 December 1976

In short, if I wanted to watch Tom Cruise, I’d do better with Mission- Impossible (1996), Few Good Men, A (1992), or even just Cocktail (1988). If I wanted to find out about the samurai, I’d watch Twilight Samurai, Seven Samurai or Ran (which is my favourite Akira Kurasawa film – cos it’s in colour).

I can’t help comparing it to The Return of the King, and even at his lowest beaten moment, Viggo Mortensen looked far more heroic despite trying hard not to look it.

Oh and did you know that Viggo Mortensen is four years older than Tom Cruise? That makes him 46 on 20 October this year while Tom Cruise turns 42 on 3 July.