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i finally went to see the movie Last Samurai. a few months ago, when it just came out, i read mostly bad reviews about the movie. most of them says it’s a copy of Dances With Wolves, but the Indians are replaced with Japanese… so, i decided to skip the movie.

then, a few weeks ago, my brother called and excitedly recommended the movie. he said it was awesome. as usual, i believed my brother than any critique in newspapers or internet… don’t they say that recommendations from people who are close to you is more valuable than mass recommendation? it makes grassroot marketing works… or something.

anyways, i ended up liking the movie. i’m not a big fan of Tom Cruise, especially after seeing a few of his last movies, where he acted so damn vain. in this movie, however, the strong character of Ken Watanabe matches well with Tom Cruise’s character. so, Tom doesn’t appear too annoying. and i like Ujio. Hiroyuki Sanada, even though he pretty much has no line in the movie, is sooooo cooool! and his armor is awesome!!

speaking about armors, i think they did a great job on the costume design. those samurai armors gave me chills, especially when you only see them as shadows. i can imagine how creepy they look if i were in the battle with them. brr…

my favorite quotes would be:
Katsumoto: You believe a man can change his destiny?
Algren: I think a man can only do what he can, until his destiny is revealed.

Emperor Meiji: Tell me how he died.
Algren: I will tell you how he lived.

great quotes, especially coming from the Japanese vs. Western philosophy context.

Naomi and i joked on that we’re gonna see Kenshin in the battle somewhere. heh heh.

i’m not sure if there is any parts of the movie is cencored, though. usually, romantic scenes are almost completely cut out in Indonesian theaters. but since i thought lovey dovey scenes would make the movie cheezy, i’d say that The Last Samurai is great the way i saw it.