Cinema - The Last Samurai (15) (From Warrington Guardian)

Cinema - The Last Samurai (15)

Hollywood megastar, Tom Cruise, has made his latest bid for Oscar glory in the new all-action period epic, The Last Samurai.

Cruise plays Captain Nathan Algren - a man adrift.

A man who once risked his life for honour and country but who, in the years since the American Civil War, has seen the world change. Self-interest has taken the place of sacrifice while honour is nowhere to be found.

Unless, that is, you go to Japan where the Samurai warriors have honour in abundance.

They are under threat from the Emperor of Japan who has been wooed by American interests and has decided to employ Algren to train a modern Japanese conscript army and help eradicate the old traditionalist soldiers.

But the Samurai are not going to be easily defeated and the American finds himself captured pretty quickly and falling in love with their life.

Those people, like myself, who are tired of Hollywood re-writing history to make America look good should not get too stressed out. For once it seems as though America is being portrayed as the bad guy.

Lets just hope The Last Samurai doesn't do for Tom Cruise's career what Dances with Wolves did for Kevin Costner's.

Paul Keaveny