User:LancedSoul/sandbox/The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai is a 2003 American period action drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz. The film stars Tom Cruise, who also co-produced, with Timothy Spall, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn, Hiroyuki Sanada, Koyuki, and Shin Koyamada in supporting roles.

Plot
Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is an American military officer hired by the Emperor of Japan to train the country's first army in the art of modern warfare. As the government attempts to eradicate the ancient Samurai warrior class in preparation for more Westernized and trade-friendly policies, Algren finds himself unexpectedly affected by his encounters with the Samurai, which places him at the center of a struggle between two eras and two worlds.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Tom Cruise did such an awesome job for Captain Nathan Algren.
 * 2) The action scenes are awesome.

Reception
The Last Samurai received mixed reviews from critics, but was well-received by audiences upon its release, receiving praise for the acting, writing, directing, score, visuals, costumes, but criticized in Japan for a romanticized "storybook" portrayal of the samurai, who are regarded as more corrupt. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 66% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 221 reviews, with an average score of 6.43/10. The site's consensus states: "With high production values and thrilling battle scenes, The Last Samurai is a satisfying epic.". At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 55, based on reviews from 43 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Chris Stuckmann gave this movie an grade of A+.