So here's the funny thing: there are historical inaccuracies in the film, but not what people always expect. Japan did call in western experts, but they didn't use Americans for their army/land troops they used the French. Just after the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government really did send some of their people out to various countries in the west to catch up modern technologies and methods, then when those people came home they brought westerner experts with them to spread and implement what they learned. This almost assuredly saved Japan from being exploited by European countries like what happened to China, India, etc (Ethiopia and Siam/Thailand are the only other two nations which avoided this fate too). Japan did this so well they went from a non-industrial and mostly isolation island nation to whipping the shit out of the Russians about 30-40 years later (1905), including sinking two Russian fleets. It's crazy what happened, totally worth going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole some afternoon.
No movie composer, in my opinion, makes Japanese music any better or beautiful than Hans Zimmer. He did it with Black Rain. He did it in Pearl Harbor. And, better than ever, he did it with The Last Samurai! Zimmer makes masterpiece after masterpiece & it's so much to choose from, but the main theme from this film is amongst his very best in my opinion. And makes this film truly spiritual as Algren himself stated in it.
hey mellow if your really interested in the history and having a deeper understanding of this film and some of the others you watched before I really recommend checking out history buffs channel His video on last samurai: ua-cam.com/video/-buQSp6wOMc/v-deo.html (this comment is for you not a shoutout so whether or not you decide to check out his work feel free to delete this comment)
This is *NOT* a story of some “white savior” interposing himself onto another people. Solving their problems. This *IS* a story of how another culture saved a man from a distant land. How *IT* gave purpose to his pain, and taught him to find peace in the storm within, and beauty in the world without again. Nathan is *NOT* The Last Samurai. At the end of the movie, it is Katsumoto’s story Nathan recounts to the emperor, *NOT* his own. Also… Samurai is both singular and plural. It is more than possible, in fact it is likely, the title is in reference to not only Katsumoto, nor even the village of warriors who fought and died for him, but an entire way of life. This post was brought to you by: legal, recreational cannabis. Edited: Because I can’t spell for nuts.
It may be heavily romantisized story but THIS post is the point I push home for every reaction to this movie. Anybody badmothing it has no understanding of the language... or the culture for that matter. Big props.
The whole movie characters are literally speaking white-saviour language of civilising primitive people, that I find it baffling people are not able to see contrast between people like asshole general and Algren. Also, the same people who complain about Algren being a white saviour hardly watch any movie with Japanese only cast, but screech at a movie with excellent Japanese actors and one white guy who is audience surrogate.
yeah, I used to say he was my least favorite actor years ago but the more I watched his films and gave it a chance, the more I grew to appreciate his talent and diversity. I would never say he is bad again. (my original thoughts were from the more silly macho type stuff like cocktail, top gun, back in the day, thinking he was one-note). This is a fantastic movie of his and his discussion with the emperor at the end moves me to tears.
His Japanese in this movie is very good. Much better than Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, although he had a tiny fraction of the lines, but I can guarantee that he went over them over and over with a language coach or at least a native speaker. The dude doesn't half-ass anything.
Okay, Mell, your grandma had both Gladiator and The Last Samarai on DVD and you never bothered to watch them? Dude, you need to have a serious talk with grandma and check out her stash of movies, because she OBVIOUSLY knows what's going on! Shout out to grandma!
i commented the same thing on one of his last videos reacting to a classic movie , then i realized he was born in the mid 90's , he's young, it makes sense that he's just discovering these movies now . better now than later i say , at least he's discovering great movies .
Cruise suffers from the A-list actor problem that, through little fault of his own, even when he’s giving a good performance, I usually struggle to see the character rather than the actor just playing a character (Tom Hanks, Will Smith, The Rock, Brad Pitt, etc all have this in their typical roles, with occasional exceptions like Cruise in this case). This is one of his performances where I’m able to see Nathan Algren instead Tom Cruise playing Nathan Algren.
@@YankeeBlues21 Honestly, even greats like Pacino & De Niro have those roles. Like in Michael Mann's Heat (1995), most people just see both actors performing. Heck, did Morgan Freeman ever really disappear into a character? I think Cruise's star power simply gets criticized more due to him starting out as a heartthrob. Probably why fellow pretty boy Johnny Depp tended to choose strange characters. Charisma is really the key to a great performance no matter if the actor is still seen over the character or not.
@@jp3813 I think all the guys I named are great actors (okay, The Rock is more of an entertainer, but still), so I don’t disagree. It’s hard, no doubt, when you become a huge star, to disappear into a role. And like you said, that’s probably played a part in the career choices of somebody like Depp choosing to keep taking parts that aren’t “Johnny Depp” (so much so that it’s almost off-putting when he shows up in things like “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”, looking more or less like himself). But it IS worth noting the times these actors DO disappear into a role. Unrelated, but I think Cruise’s heavily slept on talent is that he might be the absolute best actor at choosing scripts. The man simply does not appear in badly written/directed films. The same can’t be said for most other actors with similar name brand and who have been from roughly his generation/number of screen credits. So whatever weaknesses he might have as an actor, he never allows them to show by appearing without a quality team around him. He’s like the Tom Brady of acting.
@@kendyer8761 imo he created enough masterpieces in his lifetime so he's allowed to take it easy nowadays and just bwaaaahh through everything because they still sound good...
Emperor Meiji was in a strange position, since before him being the Emperor of Japan was just a figurehead with no actual power, everything was ruled by the Shogun, the military Dictator who "protected" the Emperor and ruled on his behalf with regional Daimyo's under the Shogun each governing their own lands, this changed with the Boshin war when the Shogun and the Emperor ended up at war and the Emperor's forces which were smaller but more modernised ended up winning the conflict, with Meiji taking his place as ruler of Japan, so really Meiji is a bit lost because he's the first Emperor to actually be in a position of power.
Not to mention that he was caught between the traditionalists who put him in power and the very real threat posed by technologically advanced foreign powers as seen from the earlier Boxer Rebellions that saw China cut up by said foreign powers.
They commited suicde that way because they believed that the soul was sitting in their belly. As they opened it, they showed that their souls were clean and honorable. Greetings from Germany! I really like your reactions! Peace :)
It was also a display of bravery, showing how long they could withstand the horrendous pain and still hold their nerve without crying out, before their second finished them off cleanly by beheading them.
I've heard it explained as, to regain their honor, they were willing to subject themselves to a horrible death by opening themselves up in that manner...and as a sign that their sacrifice was accepted, they were beheaded and spared such a horrible death while keeping their honor intact.
That night he was having the nightmares in the village he was also going through alcohol withdrawal. It's the one drug where quitting cold turkey can actually kill you; your body goes completely haywire like that usually for weeks.
That happened to me. The DTs are brutal. Hallucinations, tremors, sleeplessness. Didn't eat for a week. I've never felt so close to death. I can't imagine going through that while also being a POW and dealing with PTSD!
The west knew the era of heavy cavalry dominating the battlefield was over already, they'd watched the beginning of the era of industrialized modern warfare in the American Civil War, where the Gatling Gun first made its appearance and decimated the Confederate Cavalry. That said, the ending scene here is perhaps one of the most perfect representations of the end of pre-modern warfare and the rise of modern warfare put to film.
@@peregry capturing the true eclipsing in every way of what feudal warrior classes were capable of with sheer innovation, standardization, etc... The British did many versions of this scenario in many of of their colonies in the late 1800s. "Whatever happens, we have got, the Maxim gun, and they have not."
@@peregry The American Civil War didn't really change warfare more than the Crimean War or the Franco-Prussian war. It didn't define the end of an era more than any other major wars of that period. As for heavy cavalery, it wasn't the first time in history they'd become kind of obsolete, just to make a come back later. I think military innovation is gradual, there is rarely a total shift in paradygm except for truly big events such as WW1.
I loved at the end how the one general was brought to tears and ordered his men to stop firing. “They made the Persians pay so dearly they lost all taste for war.” Not only did they lose the taste because of the men they lost. But because seeing these men who have dedicated their life to the country. Seeing them running headforth into death brought him shame. The samurai in this movie had many victories. Even though they all died.
This movie only shows one side of the story. The samurai class had dominated Japan for centuries. The modern soldiers were conscripted from the lower classes and many had built up generations of resentment against the samurai. That explains their willingness to humiliate the young samurai by cutting off his top knot.
It was law in Japan before then, that Samurai were allowed to just casually kill commoners in the street for "Showing Disrespect" which could be anything the Samurai in question decided. Look at them in the street funny? Off comes your head and there was nothing anyone could do.
This feeling is in The Seven Samurai as well. Without giving anything away, there's a scene in the village when the samurai become angry with the villagers - for good reason. But, they are told why the incidents occurred and have to face the truth of the behaviors of their own kind. It's one of the best scenes in the film IMHO
Yeah samurai get romanticized a lot in modern culture but historically they where thugs who took advantage of the peasantry. And when the political system shifted most became bandits and raiders. But shit they have cool armor and swords so I guess it's cool.
@@CodeeXD They especially got pissed off when the Merchants, who were supposed to be the BOTTOM of the Japanese class system, were making way more money and becoming more influential than they were
@@weldonwin That pretty much occurs in all civilizations: the merchant class gains enough influence and monetary power to contend with the established elite, and the two end up at loggerheads. A similar tension existed in medieval China and was exploited by the Mongols.
This film has been compared to Dances with Wolves (1990) due to having similar concepts. The cinematography is by John Toll, who also shot Braveheart (1995) starring Mel Gibson. I recommend both films along w/ The Patriot (2000), which also stars Gibson. Stick to the theatrical versions for all of them. BTW, this is actually the 2nd Edward Zwick movie you've reacted to. The 1st was Glory (1989).
There were a lot of issues around the historical accuracy of the film, a lot of what they showcase about the culture was really well done, but the history of the events is obscured. The Meiji restoration was a pivotal moment for Japan as they came out of isolation to discover that the rest of the world was industrializing.
Yeah, there's a ton of inaccuracies in the film (samurai had used fire arms for centuries, and used them well, for starters) but the film captures the spirit of the times really well, and from what I heard it was very well received in Japan.
They said in the movie that Katsumoto "no longer" uses firearms. The historical character Katsumoto was based on also stopped using them towards his end, although it was more likely due to a lack of gunpowder.
Yeah, but this film is inspired by historical events, not a documentary. It was also better received in Japan than in the US. The biggest criticism there was that the Samurai are romanticized as perfect heros, rather than the flawed, hypocritical, power-hungry bullies they tended to be.
The "Meiji restoration" and the lead up to it was pretty messy. One group wants more western ideas just for another group to rebel because of this... Then that group that won the rebellion go on to further the westernisation they rose up against.... First time I read this part of their history I was like wtf?!?
4:37 It's less that "being a Samurai" is a "life-time thing", as like an allegiance thing. The Samurai were a caste of citizens. You're born into being a Samurai, it's not as much of a glamorous honour life that one can just enter. There were ways, of course, but being a "Samurai" is more about the social status than the fighting. Which is what I commend this movie for. They could've just gone with "Yea, Katsumoto is a Samurai, as are all the enemies of modernizing Japan", but it actually shows that there WERE Samurai joining or being part of the restoration.
@@metalbat8414 Obviously it was about being to fight. Samurai were a warrior caste. But it *is* a caste one is born into, not a philosophy one can pick up in middle school and wear to prom night.
I have to tell you that you are my favorite reactor of movies!!! You had me when you reacted to the Green Mile!! I love your honesty and spot on commentary!!! I love that you get emotional!! I have lived in the far East and these people are the most hard working and honor bound people you will ever meet!! They still hold the values today which our country could take some lessons from!! You sir are awesome!!! Stay safe!!
The most beautiful part of the movie is that Algren managed to find his peace while still alive. Many in his situation believe they can only end their suffering by taking their own lives. The final lingering shot of Algren's face makes me bawl every time.
This is my favorite movie of all time. The music, the scenery, story, action, emotion. Everything has a purpose and nothing is wasted. One of the few that Hollywood didn't rub too much of their "hollywood" all over and made it actually believable.
7:50 seppuku is belly-cutting because it takes more bravery to go painful without crying out. The second takes your head off to preserve your dignity before you cry out.
2 types of honorable suicide. 1. "Harikiri" is when a single person alone slices own gut and dies in the most painful death. 2. Seppoku is when one person commiting Harikiri at the moment of the gut penetration a chosen person will behead the harikiri person allowing a swifter, more merciful and less painful honorable death.
And in 'Harakiri', they make a samurai, who has sold his sword blade to buy food for his impoverished family, commit seppuku with the dull bamboo replacement - his second standing idle until he's sawed deep enough to 'convince us of your sincerity'.
7:55. Seppukku (“hara kiri”) is performed in the stomach area because it - without getting too precise about the cultural meanings - is where the spirit energy was thought to reside. It’s also more painful, and the suffering made the extreme act that much more brave/honorable. Throat cutting/stabbing was the female version, so male samurai would not choose that method.
Mel thank you so much for this review. It’s a period in history that’s not frequently covered and I thought the spirit of the period was well captured. There were many historical inaccuracies (covered excellently on the History Buffs channel). I loved your reaction to the plot. You’ve also become a Hans Zimmer connoisseur!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍❤️
@ 35:45: The growth is well-deserved bro! Your reactions are entertaining, insightful, funny, and you strike me as an all-around good-natured guy. Not to mention, you make great film choices. I got no problem supporting that, because I want to see more of that on UA-cam. :) Too many people are just Me-Monsters, yapping on about nothing to fill space. Or they hop on a reaction 'cause another reactor did it,and they want the same kinda views, but aren't actually interested in the material. That is NOT this channel. IMO, if you were to hit 1M tomorrow, it would be more deserved than a lotta these cats who been sitting in the mils already.
This movie is not only my favorite Tom Cruise movie but also just an absolutely beautiful masterpiece of movie making. Doesn't feel like there is a wasted scene or moment. Every frame is like a damn painting. Just pure unadulterated brilliance.
It's always hard for me to pick my favorite movie of all time, but this movie is always the first one that comes to mind whenever the question comes up.
By every law of Hollywood, this should have been awful. So pleasantly surprised it was as good as it was! 1 out of 10 for historical accuracy, as might be expected, but still surprisingly enjoyable!
@@dvoidcomics1833 as a complete work of fiction, yeah. Or even higher, paradoxically. But as a period piece "clearly" telling a reimagined version of the Satsuma rebellion? Very Hollywood-ified...
This a good one! Your reactions are by far the most entertaining on youtube, from the costumes you come out with, intro's, the voice overs you do for the monsters and of course your reaction and insight into the films, camera angles, artistic choices etc, fucking great man!
I'm 20 year old Japanese and answering ur question, Samurai is not a tribe so it's not technically possible for them to live until today. But what I can say is that they are our ancestors and I'd say their spirits and their culture still live in our heart.
This is the second Ed Zwick film you've loved, the other one being "Glory." Now, you must check out another one of his, 1994's "Legends Of The Fall," with Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins. It is an amazing, beautifully shot tale that I'm sure you'll love.
I think people forget or don’t realize that Katsumoto’s last words was him finishing his Haiku that he was saying he was struggling to write throughout the movie. “They are all perfect.”
From Ujio's point of view he's definitely surprised Nathan was able to get him to a draw. But the look of "how did that happen??" on Nathan's face and not a look of hatred for an enemy is probably what helped Ujio gain respect for Nathan.
I can't believe it took me this long to realize you had this reaction up! This movie and Collateral are my favorites Tom Cruise has ever done. My dad and I adore this one though, he put me on like your Grandma probably tried to lol. Ironically, Gladiator was dad's fall asleep movie for years 🙂
Breh, you got a real heart man... I am glad to see someone who is not afraid to show true feelings. Movies like this make me emotional as well. It's one thing to make a good movie but if you can make someone THINK, that is priceless generosity. Keep up the good work.
This was one of those movies where everyone involved was turned up to 11! The music, acting, cinematography, writing, editing was all top notch! One of my favorite movies of all time!
8:18 great scene, showing Tom's character suffering from Alcohol withdraw. He was a heavy drinker trying to wash out those memories, and his captures knew he was a drunk, so forced him to well go cold turkey.
Henry Sanada, Tom’s reluctant trainer, is in Twilight Samurai, which was released a year prior and also dealt with the same subject about Japan’s transition into the modern era just a few years before the Meiji Restoration. It doesn’t romanticize the Samurai culture but a view into an ordinary Samurai who must leave at dusk to attend to his young daughter and ailing and dementia mother.
All are fine. Knock it off. Just like samurai, people can and do have many names and variations of their name, especially depending where they are. Everyone gets it. To quote Grand Moff Tarkin, This bickering is pointless. haha
This might show my age but I remember seeing the trailer in theaters and everybody laughed because the movie guy was like Tom Cruise is the last samurai so it sounded stupid so it took me a couple years to watch it and the acting was amazing
Japanese nouns are interchangeable as singular or plural. The Last Samurai was meant to be understood as a plural, but because of the English form of singular vs. plural nouns, the title got misinterpreted as a singular noun. Which is a shame.
This is my favorite movie and never fails to bring out the tears. I love everything about it, but that music alone could probably get me choked up. Glad you loved it too.
Thank you for reacting to this movie. Ken Watanabe (Katsumoto) is one of the great Japanese actors along with Sanada Hiroyuki (Ujio). To try to answer your question about seppuku, here's my interpretation. I see it as a way of atonement, be it to be forgiven for being defeated, committing a crime, etc. And this forgiveness can only be accepted/given (by the offender and offended, respectively) after withstanding an immense amount of pain since it's carried out by a stab to the gut and then cutting from left to right in order to sever the aorta, causing major blood loss. Usually there is a kaishaku-nin (a second or assistant) who aids them by ending their suffering through beheading. In the absence of one, the one trying to die must then take the blade out and stab himself in the throat or fall on it heart-first. There are times when samurai simply take their own life by slitting/stabbing their throat like during wars, when there aren't any good times/places for ritualistic suicide since they would have to take the armor off (a major pain in the ass, apparently). This is also done by wives of samurai as well, and they tie their knees together to maintain the posture of dignity by sitting up even as a corpse.
“They are all perfect”. It reminds me when he said You can look for a perfect blossom your entire life and it wouldn’t be a wasted life. He actually got to see one in the end. Lived a life worth living.
The story was inspired from a Frenchman named Jules Brunet (2 January 1838 - 12 August 1911). (Wiki) : He was a French military officer who served the Tokugawa shogunate during the Japanese Boshin War. Originally sent to Japan as an artillery instructor with the French military mission of 1867, he refused to leave the country after the shōgun was defeated, and played a leading role in the separatist Republic of Ezo and its fight against forces of the Meiji Restoration.
Man iam from Brazil and i never miss one reaction from this Channel keep going With this amazing reactions!! Sorry for my shit english rsrs. Thanks !!.
I always loved the analogy of spending your life searching for the perfect cherry blossom and how katsumoto spent his life trying to prevent the samurai way be forgotten. In his death, he found the perfect cherry blossom.
It's also the idea that we often spend our entire lives in search of that perfect "thing," be it a profession, wealth, relationship, etc. We are never satisfied because we feel that everything we try to do is flawed, that every day we live has something lacking and so we keep searching. Yet a person may find at the moment of death, that every moment we spent living, the good and the bad, are all perfect.
At 30:11 when he’s realised what they’ve done, hits me hard every time. And when the emperor says ‘we cannot forget, who were are, or where we come from’ my favourite line. Brilliant movie and performance by cruise
I saw this back in 2004 at the cinemas, and Tom Cruise absolutely hits his performance out of the park! I never really liked him before that, but have come to appreciate that he really is an excellent actor. This, along with Kingdom of Heaven, is among the best films I've seen at the cinemas. Absolutely deserves to be seen on the big screen.
Probably my favorite tom cruise movie and performance. The cinematography is gorgeous and hans Zimmer is a legend. Edward zwick's direction is perfect. Awesome reaction homie as always. 🔥🔥🔥🔥
"From the moment they wake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue... I have never seen such discipline." -Best quote from the movie Samurai and Ninjas still exist as much as Comanche warriors. People still live and fight seriously with blade and bow, and legends are still born among them who can stand in the face of modern armies proudly. That is to say nothing against those who use guns. What's most important is not what you use, but how, and why. I have a similar distaste for war as you, although I have much love for the way of the warrior. War is tragic, but a good warrior shows how goodness can live and shine amidst even the worst this world has to offer. I'm grateful to share my journey with many such people.
The event this movie was inspired by is based on Satsuma Rebellion in 1877. The leader of the samurai in the movie is based on the real leader of the rebellion whose name was Saigo Takamori (his name "saigo" ironically translates as "last" from Japanese).
I'm glad you got the chance to see this movie. Its breathtaking, and some of that mysticism feels like it spills out in a way that makes you wonder "the fuck am I doing with my life? these people are incredible." And then you remember, shit, they dont have air conditioning. But seriously though, great reaction, glad you enjoyed it, and good ear for picking out it was Hans Zimmer :) I find that the more movies I watch and credits I pay attention to, I begin to pick out similarities in their movies as a means of learning their directing style. At the very least, it can give you an idea ahead of time if you're probably going to like the movie or not.
Hmm no. A lot of Japanese hated the movie for its historical errors and depiction of Emperor Meiji has a huge wimp. The part of them that loved it was because Tom Cruise is incredibly popular in japan.
An extraordinary film. Consider how the Japanese were portrayed in the 1930s and 1940s. They were almost blind with thick glasses on their noses, rather clumsy, simple-minded and stupid. That was racism at its worst. I've seen some reactions to The Last Samurai on UA-cam and the one thing they all shared was the shock when Nobutada gets hit by a bullet and then sacrifices himself for the others. That's when you know it's all going to end in disaster for the samurai. I really like your commentary on the film. Thx for that
to Mellverse, absolutely love yer vids man! found your channel by accident, about a month ago. Been looking forward to all your reaction since. Keep the reactions coming brother! Deep love for you from this fan from the Philippines!
I will never forget watching this in theaters, I was in college at the time. Me and my roommates were blown away. This was really big when it came out. I remember the promotion of this movie being pretty big in America and Japan. I recommend 13 Assassins.
The stabbing in the stumach with a short blade is called seppuku i think. Its a way to keep their honor when defeated in combat or such. Katsumoto assisted him by decapitating him as a way of respect, to end his suffering faster.
“He looks like he’s supposed to be in a K-Pop Band” Funny you say that, Emperor Meiji was *FIFTEEN* when he was restored on the Chrysanthemum Throne and declared Emperor of Japan (1867). The whole Meiji Restoration was all about returning the power to the Emperor and away from the Shogun who ran the military, where before it was like how the Royal Family in England is now (but they saw the Emperor as a divine figure in Japan).
Of course that was mainly a pretext and the real target was to destroy the Tokugawa and give back influence to other clans, but to achieve that they had to give the Emperor actual powers and were quite surprised when he went full on modernization of Japan, which not all the people who gave him the power actually wanted.
It is well known there have been several prominent samurai who were not Japanese, including a black man named Yasuke. Very cool to learn about, and a great movie
If you're into anime, Rurouni Kenshin was basically about the same thing during the same time period. The whole social upheaval of japan wanting to break out of isolation and become industrialized, while remnants of samurai wanted to stay isolated and keep everything traditional. That's what the Meiji Revolution was about.
among some Native American tribes, they had a sport called Stick Ball: a small ball made of leather and two sticks with leather webbing on one end each, and use the two sticks to toss the ball at the top of a tall pole that was used as a target.
This is not a historically accurate movie and it wasn't supposed to be but it is beautiful none the less. The music brings so much to the scenes, and no matter how many times I see this movie it still makes me gulp and tear up. BTW, when Aldren was leaving and he went to Taka to tell her that you said "why would he do that, she don't care". Well as you can see the whose situation was complicated, but she did nurse him back to health and sobriety, she showed him kindness, she cooked and fed him. During his time there he showed improvement and learned to respect their ways and earned respect back. I know it all sounds complicated but the little things between them piled up, especially when she saw how he was with the kids. Leaving without saying anything would be disrespectful to say the least.
Hans Zimmer Is The GOAT!
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So here's the funny thing: there are historical inaccuracies in the film, but not what people always expect. Japan did call in western experts, but they didn't use Americans for their army/land troops they used the French.
Just after the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government really did send some of their people out to various countries in the west to catch up modern technologies and methods, then when those people came home they brought westerner experts with them to spread and implement what they learned. This almost assuredly saved Japan from being exploited by European countries like what happened to China, India, etc (Ethiopia and Siam/Thailand are the only other two nations which avoided this fate too). Japan did this so well they went from a non-industrial and mostly isolation island nation to whipping the shit out of the Russians about 30-40 years later (1905), including sinking two Russian fleets.
It's crazy what happened, totally worth going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole some afternoon.
When are you doing Godfather 2 and 3?
No movie composer, in my opinion, makes Japanese music any better or beautiful than Hans Zimmer. He did it with Black Rain. He did it in Pearl Harbor. And, better than ever, he did it with The Last Samurai! Zimmer makes masterpiece after masterpiece & it's so much to choose from, but the main theme from this film is amongst his very best in my opinion. And makes this film truly spiritual as Algren himself stated in it.
I'd say James Horner may be better
His music is also perfect.
Glory
Legends of the fall
hey mellow if your really interested in the history and having a deeper understanding of this film and some of the others you watched before I really recommend checking out history buffs channel
His video on last samurai: ua-cam.com/video/-buQSp6wOMc/v-deo.html
(this comment is for you not a shoutout so whether or not you decide to check out his work feel free to delete this comment)
This is *NOT* a story of some “white savior” interposing himself onto another people. Solving their problems.
This *IS* a story of how another culture saved a man from a distant land. How *IT* gave purpose to his pain, and taught him to find peace in the storm within, and beauty in the world without again.
Nathan is *NOT* The Last Samurai. At the end of the movie, it is Katsumoto’s story Nathan recounts to the emperor, *NOT* his own.
Also…
Samurai is both singular and plural. It is more than possible, in fact it is likely, the title is in reference to not only Katsumoto, nor even the village of warriors who fought and died for him, but an entire way of life.
This post was brought to you by: legal, recreational cannabis.
Edited: Because I can’t spell for nuts.
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Best comment! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
It may be heavily romantisized story but THIS post is the point I push home for every reaction to this movie. Anybody badmothing it has no understanding of the language... or the culture for that matter. Big props.
Yep "The last samurai" means the end of the samurai way of life
The whole movie characters are literally speaking white-saviour language of civilising primitive people, that I find it baffling people are not able to see contrast between people like asshole general and Algren. Also, the same people who complain about Algren being a white saviour hardly watch any movie with Japanese only cast, but screech at a movie with excellent Japanese actors and one white guy who is audience surrogate.
“Tell me how he died.”
“I will tell you how he lived.”
Perfect exchange of dialogue.😢👍
My favorite lines of the movie. Simple but heavy.
Gets me every time.
If you didn't expect ninjas....it means they did their job well!
Personally I doubt it was ninja. By that time both koga and Iga had almost been eradicated. Probably ordinary assassins.
@@80Jay71 This film isn't known for historical accuracy.
@@80Jay71 maybe wayward survivors of both clans created new identities for themselves and trained mercenaries in ninjutsu.
There is only one thing nobody expects: Ninjas, the Spanish inquisition of Far East.
Ronald McDonald would have been great by those standards...
People love to crap on Tom Cruise, but when you take a good look at his body of work, the man is a great actor.
💯
yeah, I used to say he was my least favorite actor years ago but the more I watched his films and gave it a chance, the more I grew to appreciate his talent and diversity. I would never say he is bad again. (my original thoughts were from the more silly macho type stuff like cocktail, top gun, back in the day, thinking he was one-note). This is a fantastic movie of his and his discussion with the emperor at the end moves me to tears.
Good actor but batshit crazy.
I don't know whether he is a great actor but he's a great film star, possibly the best ever, and that's more than good enough.
His Japanese in this movie is very good. Much better than Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, although he had a tiny fraction of the lines, but I can guarantee that he went over them over and over with a language coach or at least a native speaker. The dude doesn't half-ass anything.
Okay, Mell, your grandma had both Gladiator and The Last Samarai on DVD and you never bothered to watch them? Dude, you need to have a serious talk with grandma and check out her stash of movies, because she OBVIOUSLY knows what's going on! Shout out to grandma!
Honestly should have watched with Gran she defiantly had good tastes for action movies.
i commented the same thing on one of his last videos reacting to a classic movie , then i realized he was born in the mid 90's , he's young, it makes sense that he's just discovering these movies now . better now than later i say , at least he's discovering great movies .
You should check out LSG Medias review of the movie. They go in to great detail about how the Japanese populace reacted to the movie.
Based Grandma MellVerse
@@matthewy2j GranMell
This is by far my favorite of Tom Cruise films. I love everything about it.
Cruise suffers from the A-list actor problem that, through little fault of his own, even when he’s giving a good performance, I usually struggle to see the character rather than the actor just playing a character (Tom Hanks, Will Smith, The Rock, Brad Pitt, etc all have this in their typical roles, with occasional exceptions like Cruise in this case).
This is one of his performances where I’m able to see Nathan Algren instead Tom Cruise playing Nathan Algren.
My favourite as well. The man can act
@@YankeeBlues21 Honestly, even greats like Pacino & De Niro have those roles. Like in Michael Mann's Heat (1995), most people just see both actors performing. Heck, did Morgan Freeman ever really disappear into a character? I think Cruise's star power simply gets criticized more due to him starting out as a heartthrob. Probably why fellow pretty boy Johnny Depp tended to choose strange characters. Charisma is really the key to a great performance no matter if the actor is still seen over the character or not.
@@jp3813
I think all the guys I named are great actors (okay, The Rock is more of an entertainer, but still), so I don’t disagree. It’s hard, no doubt, when you become a huge star, to disappear into a role. And like you said, that’s probably played a part in the career choices of somebody like Depp choosing to keep taking parts that aren’t “Johnny Depp” (so much so that it’s almost off-putting when he shows up in things like “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”, looking more or less like himself). But it IS worth noting the times these actors DO disappear into a role.
Unrelated, but I think Cruise’s heavily slept on talent is that he might be the absolute best actor at choosing scripts. The man simply does not appear in badly written/directed films. The same can’t be said for most other actors with similar name brand and who have been from roughly his generation/number of screen credits. So whatever weaknesses he might have as an actor, he never allows them to show by appearing without a quality team around him.
He’s like the Tom Brady of acting.
Valkyrie is right up there with this one. Both amazing films by Tom Cruise.
Hans Zimmer writes music that can make you feel something even without the movie. Guy's a modern day Mozart.
He used to. Now he just BWAHHHHHS his way through every soundtrack.
@@kendyer8761 Exactly.
@@kendyer8761 imo he created enough masterpieces in his lifetime so he's allowed to take it easy nowadays and just bwaaaahh through everything because they still sound good...
@@kendyer8761 Damn so you only saw two movies he scored.
Emperor Meiji was in a strange position, since before him being the Emperor of Japan was just a figurehead with no actual power, everything was ruled by the Shogun, the military Dictator who "protected" the Emperor and ruled on his behalf with regional Daimyo's under the Shogun each governing their own lands, this changed with the Boshin war when the Shogun and the Emperor ended up at war and the Emperor's forces which were smaller but more modernised ended up winning the conflict, with Meiji taking his place as ruler of Japan, so really Meiji is a bit lost because he's the first Emperor to actually be in a position of power.
Not to mention that he was caught between the traditionalists who put him in power and the very real threat posed by technologically advanced foreign powers as seen from the earlier Boxer Rebellions that saw China cut up by said foreign powers.
They commited suicde that way because they believed that the soul was sitting in their belly. As they opened it, they showed that their souls were clean and honorable. Greetings from Germany! I really like your reactions! Peace :)
Traditionally only the women slice their own throats.
I came scrolling down the comments in hopes that somebody else would have explained Seppuku. I was not let down lol.
It was also a display of bravery, showing how long they could withstand the horrendous pain and still hold their nerve without crying out, before their second finished them off cleanly by beheading them.
they need to properly audio remaster this on bluray.... its a "eperfect" movie... the 'ending'" always leaves me smiling with waterly joy.
I've heard it explained as, to regain their honor, they were willing to subject themselves to a horrible death by opening themselves up in that manner...and as a sign that their sacrifice was accepted, they were beheaded and spared such a horrible death while keeping their honor intact.
That night he was having the nightmares in the village he was also going through alcohol withdrawal. It's the one drug where quitting cold turkey can actually kill you; your body goes completely haywire like that usually for weeks.
It took me so long to realise this. This movie is so powerful.
That happened to me. The DTs are brutal. Hallucinations, tremors, sleeplessness. Didn't eat for a week. I've never felt so close to death. I can't imagine going through that while also being a POW and dealing with PTSD!
he was also suffering from infection from the wounds, combined with the withdrawals.
"Well, they won't surrender..." Katsumoto says to his heavily outnumbered Samurai, and they laugh in response.
Sounds like any other day of battle for Samurai...which is why I love them so much
That Gatling gun scene is like watching the last breath of an era.
*laughs in siege of Constantinople*
Those men died the way any man would want to. It's better than submitting.
The west knew the era of heavy cavalry dominating the battlefield was over already, they'd watched the beginning of the era of industrialized modern warfare in the American Civil War, where the Gatling Gun first made its appearance and decimated the Confederate Cavalry. That said, the ending scene here is perhaps one of the most perfect representations of the end of pre-modern warfare and the rise of modern warfare put to film.
@@peregry capturing the true eclipsing in every way of what feudal warrior classes were capable of with sheer innovation, standardization, etc... The British did many versions of this scenario in many of of their colonies in the late 1800s. "Whatever happens, we have got, the Maxim gun, and they have not."
@@peregry The American Civil War didn't really change warfare more than the Crimean War or the Franco-Prussian war. It didn't define the end of an era more than any other major wars of that period.
As for heavy cavalery, it wasn't the first time in history they'd become kind of obsolete, just to make a come back later. I think military innovation is gradual, there is rarely a total shift in paradygm except for truly big events such as WW1.
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I loved at the end how the one general was brought to tears and ordered his men to stop firing.
“They made the Persians pay so dearly they lost all taste for war.” Not only did they lose the taste because of the men they lost. But because seeing these men who have dedicated their life to the country. Seeing them running headforth into death brought him shame.
The samurai in this movie had many victories. Even though they all died.
yeah i identified with that guy. the coward that finally does something right in the end. not sure he was a general though.
This movie only shows one side of the story. The samurai class had dominated Japan for centuries. The modern soldiers were conscripted from the lower classes and many had built up generations of resentment against the samurai. That explains their willingness to humiliate the young samurai by cutting off his top knot.
It was law in Japan before then, that Samurai were allowed to just casually kill commoners in the street for "Showing Disrespect" which could be anything the Samurai in question decided. Look at them in the street funny? Off comes your head and there was nothing anyone could do.
This feeling is in The Seven Samurai as well. Without giving anything away, there's a scene in the village when the samurai become angry with the villagers - for good reason. But, they are told why the incidents occurred and have to face the truth of the behaviors of their own kind. It's one of the best scenes in the film IMHO
Yeah samurai get romanticized a lot in modern culture but historically they where thugs who took advantage of the peasantry. And when the political system shifted most became bandits and raiders. But shit they have cool armor and swords so I guess it's cool.
@@CodeeXD They especially got pissed off when the Merchants, who were supposed to be the BOTTOM of the Japanese class system, were making way more money and becoming more influential than they were
@@weldonwin That pretty much occurs in all civilizations: the merchant class gains enough influence and monetary power to contend with the established elite, and the two end up at loggerheads. A similar tension existed in medieval China and was exploited by the Mongols.
This film has been compared to Dances with Wolves (1990) due to having similar concepts. The cinematography is by John Toll, who also shot Braveheart (1995) starring Mel Gibson. I recommend both films along w/ The Patriot (2000), which also stars Gibson. Stick to the theatrical versions for all of them. BTW, this is actually the 2nd Edward Zwick movie you've reacted to. The 1st was Glory (1989).
As an American Indian I always liked the scene where the Emperor was interested in us.
There were a lot of issues around the historical accuracy of the film, a lot of what they showcase about the culture was really well done, but the history of the events is obscured. The Meiji restoration was a pivotal moment for Japan as they came out of isolation to discover that the rest of the world was industrializing.
Yeah, there's a ton of inaccuracies in the film (samurai had used fire arms for centuries, and used them well, for starters) but the film captures the spirit of the times really well, and from what I heard it was very well received in Japan.
Nonetheless it was well received in Japan..Same as ghost of tsushima.. They liked it too.
They said in the movie that Katsumoto "no longer" uses firearms. The historical character Katsumoto was based on also stopped using them towards his end, although it was more likely due to a lack of gunpowder.
Yeah, but this film is inspired by historical events, not a documentary. It was also better received in Japan than in the US. The biggest criticism there was that the Samurai are romanticized as perfect heros, rather than the flawed, hypocritical, power-hungry bullies they tended to be.
The "Meiji restoration" and the lead up to it was pretty messy. One group wants more western ideas just for another group to rebel because of this... Then that group that won the rebellion go on to further the westernisation they rose up against.... First time I read this part of their history I was like wtf?!?
Great film! Saw it not too too long ago, definitely one of the best tom cruise performances by far
Good looks Tim, supporting another reaction channel!
4:37
It's less that "being a Samurai" is a "life-time thing", as like an allegiance thing.
The Samurai were a caste of citizens. You're born into being a Samurai, it's not as much of a glamorous honour life that one can just enter.
There were ways, of course, but being a "Samurai" is more about the social status than the fighting.
Which is what I commend this movie for. They could've just gone with "Yea, Katsumoto is a Samurai, as are all the enemies of modernizing Japan", but it actually shows that there WERE Samurai joining or being part of the restoration.
Tbf it was a bit of the social status of being able to fight, to challenge anyone you want whenever.
@@metalbat8414 Obviously it was about being to fight. Samurai were a warrior caste.
But it *is* a caste one is born into, not a philosophy one can pick up in middle school and wear to prom night.
@@DrunkenCoward1 Oh yeah for sure, wasn't arguing that hahaha
I have to tell you that you are my favorite reactor of movies!!! You had me when you reacted to the Green Mile!! I love your honesty and spot on commentary!!! I love that you get emotional!! I have lived in the far East and these people are the most hard working and honor bound people you will ever meet!! They still hold the values today which our country could take some lessons from!! You sir are awesome!!! Stay safe!!
The most beautiful part of the movie is that Algren managed to find his peace while still alive. Many in his situation believe they can only end their suffering by taking their own lives. The final lingering shot of Algren's face makes me bawl every time.
This is my favorite movie of all time. The music, the scenery, story, action, emotion. Everything has a purpose and nothing is wasted. One of the few that Hollywood didn't rub too much of their "hollywood" all over and made it actually believable.
7:50 seppuku is belly-cutting because it takes more bravery to go painful without crying out. The second takes your head off to preserve your dignity before you cry out.
2 types of honorable suicide. 1. "Harikiri" is when a single person alone slices own gut and dies in the most painful death. 2. Seppoku is when one person commiting Harikiri at the moment of the gut penetration a chosen person will behead the harikiri person allowing a swifter, more merciful and less painful honorable death.
@@nolanhistory77 No, actually Harakiri and Seppuku refer to the exact same thing. There is zero difference between the two terms.
And in 'Harakiri', they make a samurai, who has sold his sword blade to buy food for his impoverished family, commit seppuku with the dull bamboo replacement - his second standing idle until he's sawed deep enough to 'convince us of your sincerity'.
7:55. Seppukku (“hara kiri”) is performed in the stomach area because it - without getting too precise about the cultural meanings - is where the spirit energy was thought to reside.
It’s also more painful, and the suffering made the extreme act that much more brave/honorable.
Throat cutting/stabbing was the female version, so male samurai would not choose that method.
I’m Japanese and I really enjoyed your reaction😌 Thank you for watching and loving “Last samurai”. Me as a Japanese, I love this film too.
Mel thank you so much for this review. It’s a period in history that’s not frequently covered and I thought the spirit of the period was well captured. There were many historical inaccuracies (covered excellently on the History Buffs channel). I loved your reaction to the plot. You’ve also become a Hans Zimmer connoisseur!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍❤️
@ 35:45: The growth is well-deserved bro! Your reactions are entertaining, insightful, funny, and you strike me as an all-around good-natured guy. Not to mention, you make great film choices. I got no problem supporting that, because I want to see more of that on UA-cam. :) Too many people are just Me-Monsters, yapping on about nothing to fill space. Or they hop on a reaction 'cause another reactor did it,and they want the same kinda views, but aren't actually interested in the material. That is NOT this channel. IMO, if you were to hit 1M tomorrow, it would be more deserved than a lotta these cats who been sitting in the mils already.
I liked how this wasn't a "White Savior" story. Tom didn't come in and save the Samurai, it was the other way around.
This movie is not only my favorite Tom Cruise movie but also just an absolutely beautiful masterpiece of movie making. Doesn't feel like there is a wasted scene or moment. Every frame is like a damn painting. Just pure unadulterated brilliance.
It's always hard for me to pick my favorite movie of all time, but this movie is always the first one that comes to mind whenever the question comes up.
By every law of Hollywood, this should have been awful. So pleasantly surprised it was as good as it was! 1 out of 10 for historical accuracy, as might be expected, but still surprisingly enjoyable!
It wasn't going for historical accuracy that much. That is why there are "Very Loosely" based things. Just like Donnie yen's "Ip Man" Movies.
It's a movie, not a historical documentary.
I think it's closer to a 3 out of 10.
@@dvoidcomics1833 as a complete work of fiction, yeah. Or even higher, paradoxically. But as a period piece "clearly" telling a reimagined version of the Satsuma rebellion? Very Hollywood-ified...
This a good one!
Your reactions are by far the most entertaining on youtube, from the costumes you come out with, intro's, the voice overs you do for the monsters and of course your reaction and insight into the films, camera angles, artistic choices etc, fucking great man!
I'm 20 year old Japanese and answering ur question, Samurai is not a tribe so it's not technically possible for them to live until today. But what I can say is that they are our ancestors and I'd say their spirits and their culture still live in our heart.
I was looking for this comment ❤
The music is one of my favourite parts of this movie. Amazing, emotional, beautiful!
This is the second Ed Zwick film you've loved, the other one being "Glory." Now, you must check out another one of his, 1994's "Legends Of The Fall," with Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins. It is an amazing, beautifully shot tale that I'm sure you'll love.
I think people forget or don’t realize that Katsumoto’s last words was him finishing his Haiku that he was saying he was struggling to write throughout the movie. “They are all perfect.”
From Ujio's point of view he's definitely surprised Nathan was able to get him to a draw. But the look of "how did that happen??" on Nathan's face and not a look of hatred for an enemy is probably what helped Ujio gain respect for Nathan.
I can't believe it took me this long to realize you had this reaction up! This movie and Collateral are my favorites Tom Cruise has ever done. My dad and I adore this one though, he put me on like your Grandma probably tried to lol. Ironically, Gladiator was dad's fall asleep movie for years 🙂
Breh, you got a real heart man... I am glad to see someone who is not afraid to show true feelings. Movies like this make me emotional as well. It's one thing to make a good movie but if you can make someone THINK, that is priceless generosity. Keep up the good work.
This was one of those movies where everyone involved was turned up to 11!
The music, acting, cinematography, writing, editing was all top notch!
One of my favorite movies of all time!
aye man, i've been requesting this forever and im glad you finally got to it :D
8:18 great scene, showing Tom's character suffering from Alcohol withdraw. He was a heavy drinker trying to wash out those memories, and his captures knew he was a drunk, so forced him to well go cold turkey.
"So you are the one making all that noise, I can't sleep at night " 😂😂
Henry Sanada, Tom’s reluctant trainer, is in Twilight Samurai, which was released a year prior and also dealt with the same subject about Japan’s transition into the modern era just a few years before the Meiji Restoration. It doesn’t romanticize the Samurai culture but a view into an ordinary Samurai who must leave at dusk to attend to his young daughter and ailing and dementia mother.
You mean Sanada Hiroyuki.
Hiroyuki Sanada.
Sanada also played as Uljio in this movie.
All are fine. Knock it off.
Just like samurai, people can and do have many names and variations of their name, especially depending where they are. Everyone gets it. To quote Grand Moff Tarkin, This bickering is pointless. haha
Billy Bob Sanada McPickle Hiroyuki Jr.
"I wonder how many Samurai there are left?"
"The Last Samurai"
Lol
"no! Beard guy!" I was getting all sad and you cracked me up😂😂
This might show my age but I remember seeing the trailer in theaters and everybody laughed because the movie guy was like Tom Cruise is the last samurai so it sounded stupid so it took me a couple years to watch it and the acting was amazing
Japanese nouns are interchangeable as singular or plural. The Last Samurai was meant to be understood as a plural, but because of the English form of singular vs. plural nouns, the title got misinterpreted as a singular noun. Which is a shame.
It’s funny I saw Mell reaction to this movie(my favorite movie) and I’ve been subscribed since😂 thanks for the vids man
Yeah the score is awesome. I listen to it by itself at times its so peaceful yet a beautiful emotional sounding score
I have seen this probably 20 times, and it still kills me every time.
This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite movies. One of the few that can bring tears to my eyes.
This is my favorite movie and never fails to bring out the tears. I love everything about it, but that music alone could probably get me choked up. Glad you loved it too.
That ending. Wow. It packs a punch. So much said, in the end, with just silence and their faces.
Thank you for reacting to this movie. Ken Watanabe (Katsumoto) is one of the great Japanese actors along with Sanada Hiroyuki (Ujio).
To try to answer your question about seppuku, here's my interpretation. I see it as a way of atonement, be it to be forgiven for being defeated, committing a crime, etc. And this forgiveness can only be accepted/given (by the offender and offended, respectively) after withstanding an immense amount of pain since it's carried out by a stab to the gut and then cutting from left to right in order to sever the aorta, causing major blood loss. Usually there is a kaishaku-nin (a second or assistant) who aids them by ending their suffering through beheading. In the absence of one, the one trying to die must then take the blade out and stab himself in the throat or fall on it heart-first.
There are times when samurai simply take their own life by slitting/stabbing their throat like during wars, when there aren't any good times/places for ritualistic suicide since they would have to take the armor off (a major pain in the ass, apparently). This is also done by wives of samurai as well, and they tie their knees together to maintain the posture of dignity by sitting up even as a corpse.
the best samurai movie of all time is actually called harakiri. i recommend everyone to watch it. but this movie is also really really good.
"People killing each other over nonsense,
this is why I hate war."
Probably the best, most profound thing I have heard in a LONG time.
“They are all perfect”. It reminds me when he said You can look for a perfect blossom your entire life and it wouldn’t be a wasted life. He actually got to see one in the end. Lived a life worth living.
‘Eye of the tiger’…you wrong for that. 🤣🤣🤣❤️
The story was inspired from a Frenchman named Jules Brunet (2 January 1838 - 12 August 1911).
(Wiki) : He was a French military officer who served the Tokugawa shogunate during the Japanese Boshin War. Originally sent to Japan as an artillery instructor with the French military mission of 1867, he refused to leave the country after the shōgun was defeated, and played a leading role in the separatist Republic of Ezo and its fight against forces of the Meiji Restoration.
The character Nathan was inspired by a french soldier in Japan, called Jules Brunet
"NINJAS!?" I Don't know why that made me laugh so hard 😂
Edward Zwick directed this amazing movie, he also made Glory which I loved too!
You pick the exact same word that I, too, always choose to describe The Last Samurai = BEAUTIFUL!
Tom Cruz was intrigued and they ended up making one of my favorite movies. I think this is one of my favorite movies. Beautiful throughout.
RIP "Old Man" & "Beard Guy" LMAO
Man iam from Brazil and i never miss one reaction from this Channel keep going With this amazing reactions!! Sorry for my shit english rsrs. Thanks !!.
I always loved the analogy of spending your life searching for the perfect cherry blossom and how katsumoto spent his life trying to prevent the samurai way be forgotten. In his death, he found the perfect cherry blossom.
It's also the idea that we often spend our entire lives in search of that perfect "thing," be it a profession, wealth, relationship, etc. We are never satisfied because we feel that everything we try to do is flawed, that every day we live has something lacking and so we keep searching. Yet a person may find at the moment of death, that every moment we spent living, the good and the bad, are all perfect.
One of my all-time favourite movies. A great reaction as always!
At 30:11 when he’s realised what they’ve done, hits me hard every time. And when the emperor says ‘we cannot forget, who were are, or where we come from’ my favourite line. Brilliant movie and performance by cruise
The reception of this movie in Japan was very well received there is a national holiday for Tom cruise
It's October 10th and it's because he visited Japan so often
So glad you watched this! Definitely one of my favorite movies! Yes Beautiful is definitely the perfect word to describe this movie.
I saw this back in 2004 at the cinemas, and Tom Cruise absolutely hits his performance out of the park! I never really liked him before that, but have come to appreciate that he really is an excellent actor. This, along with Kingdom of Heaven, is among the best films I've seen at the cinemas. Absolutely deserves to be seen on the big screen.
Hey, I'm really glad you allowed yourself to be emotional!
The movie really deserves that and it only makes you more believable!!!
Probably my favorite tom cruise movie and performance. The cinematography is gorgeous and hans Zimmer is a legend. Edward zwick's direction is perfect. Awesome reaction homie as always. 🔥🔥🔥🔥
"... C'mon Kids Bop say someth'N!!!" 🤣
You got me with that one!
Hans Zimmer is a genius. Anything he makes will make you feel something. What more can you say? Whatever people are paying him is probably not enough.
i loved this reaction, this is one of my all time favorite movies and definitely my favorite Tom Cruise movie.
"From the moment they wake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue... I have never seen such discipline." -Best quote from the movie
Samurai and Ninjas still exist as much as Comanche warriors. People still live and fight seriously with blade and bow, and legends are still born among them who can stand in the face of modern armies proudly. That is to say nothing against those who use guns. What's most important is not what you use, but how, and why.
I have a similar distaste for war as you, although I have much love for the way of the warrior. War is tragic, but a good warrior shows how goodness can live and shine amidst even the worst this world has to offer. I'm grateful to share my journey with many such people.
Saw this movie about a year back. It got me hyped.
Keep up the good work.
I've lived in Japan for almost 3 years. How they portrayed the culture is very accurate.
The event this movie was inspired by is based on Satsuma Rebellion in 1877. The leader of the samurai in the movie is based on the real leader of the rebellion whose name was Saigo Takamori (his name "saigo" ironically translates as "last" from Japanese).
I'm glad you got the chance to see this movie. Its breathtaking, and some of that mysticism feels like it spills out in a way that makes you wonder "the fuck am I doing with my life? these people are incredible." And then you remember, shit, they dont have air conditioning.
But seriously though, great reaction, glad you enjoyed it, and good ear for picking out it was Hans Zimmer :) I find that the more movies I watch and credits I pay attention to, I begin to pick out similarities in their movies as a means of learning their directing style. At the very least, it can give you an idea ahead of time if you're probably going to like the movie or not.
The Japanese love this movie because this industrialization of Japan is exactly what emperor Meiji did. And it was shot in Japan with Japanese actors.
Hmm no. A lot of Japanese hated the movie for its historical errors and depiction of Emperor Meiji has a huge wimp. The part of them that loved it was because Tom Cruise is incredibly popular in japan.
An extraordinary film. Consider how the Japanese were portrayed in the 1930s and 1940s. They were almost blind with thick glasses on their noses, rather clumsy, simple-minded and stupid. That was racism at its worst.
I've seen some reactions to The Last Samurai on UA-cam and the one thing they all shared was the shock when Nobutada gets hit by a bullet and then sacrifices himself for the others.
That's when you know it's all going to end in disaster for the samurai.
I really like your commentary on the film. Thx for that
When you said "cmon kidz bop say something " I was taking a dab and choked until I went limp lol. Great observation!
It's like Dances with Wolves Japan ediction.
to Mellverse, absolutely love yer vids man! found your channel by accident, about a month ago. Been looking forward to all your reaction since.
Keep the reactions coming brother! Deep love for you from this fan from the Philippines!
This movie holds something dear to me. I'm not a Tom Cruise fan, but this movie was a movie me and my father bonded over when I was a child.
What a great reaction! I love this movie too🙆♀️
I will never forget watching this in theaters, I was in college at the time. Me and my roommates were blown away. This was really big when it came out. I remember the promotion of this movie being pretty big in America and Japan. I recommend 13 Assassins.
The stabbing in the stumach with a short blade is called seppuku i think. Its a way to keep their honor when defeated in combat or such. Katsumoto assisted him by decapitating him as a way of respect, to end his suffering faster.
Bro...luv laughing and crying with you watchin movies. If you were my neighbor, i'd holla bring some popcorn bro....;D
“He looks like he’s supposed to be in a K-Pop Band”
Funny you say that, Emperor Meiji was *FIFTEEN* when he was restored on the Chrysanthemum Throne and declared Emperor of Japan (1867). The whole Meiji Restoration was all about returning the power to the Emperor and away from the Shogun who ran the military, where before it was like how the Royal Family in England is now (but they saw the Emperor as a divine figure in Japan).
Of course that was mainly a pretext and the real target was to destroy the Tokugawa and give back influence to other clans, but to achieve that they had to give the Emperor actual powers and were quite surprised when he went full on modernization of Japan, which not all the people who gave him the power actually wanted.
It is well known there have been several prominent samurai who were not Japanese, including a black man named Yasuke. Very cool to learn about, and a great movie
Cruise and Watanabe were excellent leads in this film, but Senada was an absolute beast in this film. Really an unsung hero in film.
If you're into anime, Rurouni Kenshin was basically about the same thing during the same time period. The whole social upheaval of japan wanting to break out of isolation and become industrialized, while remnants of samurai wanted to stay isolated and keep everything traditional. That's what the Meiji Revolution was about.
among some Native American tribes, they had a sport called Stick Ball: a small ball made of leather and two sticks with leather webbing on one end each, and use the two sticks to toss the ball at the top of a tall pole that was used as a target.
Amazing reaction to an amazing movie. Really beautiful.
Of course it was Hans Zimmer x'3
This is not a historically accurate movie and it wasn't supposed to be but it is beautiful none the less. The music brings so much to the scenes, and no matter how many times I see this movie it still makes me gulp and tear up. BTW, when Aldren was leaving and he went to Taka to tell her that you said "why would he do that, she don't care". Well as you can see the whose situation was complicated, but she did nurse him back to health and sobriety, she showed him kindness, she cooked and fed him. During his time there he showed improvement and learned to respect their ways and earned respect back. I know it all sounds complicated but the little things between them piled up, especially when she saw how he was with the kids. Leaving without saying anything would be disrespectful to say the least.