Off Usagi topic, but Samurai related. Last Samurai movie

Ragelion · Post by **Ragelion** » Thu May 15, 2003 22:28 -0700

www.lastsamurai.com
Tom Cruise.
Looks AWESOME...so far what the trailer shows.

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Fri May 16, 2003 7:55 -0700

I still haven't seen the trailer (I will, though, sometime during the weekend), but for what I've read so far it looks promising indeed. Right now my mind is set on Matrix Reloaded (I got my ticket a month ago, only 6 DAYS LEFT!!!

). By the way, Morpheus will be using a katana against those white twins... perhaps not a true samurai but kinda...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri May 16, 2003 9:01 -0700

The new matrix was amazing.. and they had a preview for the Last Samurai before it, and i have to say its probably gonna be retarded. I mean come on, Tom Cruise, im a samurai flick? Besides, when a preview has no dialouge at all, and tells you absolutely nothing about its plot, its relying only on its visual aspect to bring people in, and that usually means its crap. So don't get your hopes up.

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Sat May 17, 2003 14:41 -0700

Darn, you guys in the US already have seen the new Matrix... it won't come out here in Spain until thursday...

. Anyway, about the Last Samurai movie, perhaps you're risht, but I've been reading good reports about it. We'll have to wait and watch it for ourselves.

takematsu · Post by **takematsu** » Sat May 17, 2003 20:04 -0700

Tom Cruise, eh?

I gotta say that I've yet to be captured by the power and mystery of his acting. As I had some trouble viewing the trailer, I don't know whether he's playing Gaijin (ok) or Nihonjin (dear merciful heavens...).

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Sun May 18, 2003 3:57 -0700

I finally got to see the trailer

(it looks pretty good, but there aren't many dialogues yet...). Don't worry, Tom Cruise will be a gaijin in the movie. So far, I think the story is about an English/American/whatever general (Tom Cruise) that goes to Japan in order to do something (business, weapon exchange, teaching Japanese troops modern tactics, I'm not sure...), and he gets involved in some kind of conflict between clans (or perhaps Japan vs. some other country). Sometime through the film, though, it seems that Cruise learns some kenjutsu and perhaps other Japanese martial arts and tactics, because we get to see him using a katana against many foes.

As you can see, I have a lot of skill in explaining movie synopsis

. The funny thing I've read somewhere else in the web is that Tom Cruise was supposed to do a movie with John Woo about an English/American/whatever general that goes to China in order to do that something

, but somehow he gets to play a major role in the Boxer rebellions. However, the project was cancelled, and some years later we get to see Tom Cruise in (almost) exactly the same project, but with another producer and set in Japan instead of China

.

Post by **Todd Shogun** » Sun May 18, 2003 21:17 -0700

The movie looks really cool and I'll probably go see it, but I can't make out the plot too well... obviously it's based on some alternate reality... almost like civil war era America versus 17th century Japan. Maybe Americans invading Japan during the 1800s....

The Matrix Reloaded was incredible. I read tons of reviews on it beforehand, just to get an idea what people thought. Lots of people didn't like it, saying it didn't live up to the hype or that it was too confusing or what not... NO WAY!!! This movie rocked and surpassed the first in many ways. Against X-Men 2... while I loved it, it comes in a close 2nd to Reloaded!

Post by **Todd Shogun** » Sun May 18, 2003 21:24 -0700

Okay, I just went to the website... makes a lot more sense now. Looks like the movie is based on actual history. And the western-style soldiers fighting against the samurai look like Japanese. Perhaps the new breed of western-style Japanese soldiers from the newly empowered Emperor?

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Mon May 19, 2003 6:01 -0700

AAAARGH!!! Yesterday night they played Matrix on TV, and afterwards they played that AWESOME "Last flight of the Osiris" short from the Animatrix, which was made by Square USA (the same guys that did the Final Fantasy movie). I just can't stop thinking of this thursday night, and you guys have already seen it!! AAARGH!! Life is not fair...

Tounian · Post by **Tounian** » Mon May 19, 2003 14:36 -0700

the last flight of the osiris, at least the beginning part, was absolutely retarded. i could not believe how stupid it was. they were fighting to take off each others clothes. come on, i would expect more than that from anything matrix oriented. the rest of it was pretty amazing though. just that part still pisses me off.

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Tue May 20, 2003 6:07 -0700

I don't agree. Aesthetically speaking, the fight was beautiful. Well, perhaps it wasn't very matrix related, but what that fight was about eye-candy, and it did not try to mean anything at all. Seeing a guy with a katana fighting against a chick with a chien sword (that one-handed short sword used in kung-fu) on a sci-fi kinda Dojo, while pushing the simulated laws of physics represented on the Dojo to their limit was, at least, entertaining. And it also served a purpose: to introduce the woman, Yue (I think it means "moon" in Chinese) and the man (I don't recall his name). Seeing both of them trying to cut each other's clothes was kinda funny. Well, that's what I think

.

Err, perhaps this thread is more off-topic than Usagi-related

. The Last Samurai is supposed to be released this December, it will be funny to watch "Return of the King" and "Last Samurai" on the same month and compare their landscapes (they were both shot in New Zealand). Oh, and only 8 days left for Sumi-e part one

.

takematsu · Post by **takematsu** » Tue May 20, 2003 8:52 -0700

A pile of western-uniformed soldiers shooting the dickens out of a traditionally-dressed mob of recalitrant samurai is historically accurate, and hooray to that (when Peary's squadron arrived in the mid 1800's, the Emperor saw a western-style army as the very thing for getting out from under the buke, so it would look slightly US Civic War vs. Seven Samurai). A western guy learning a few months worth of kenjutsu and not getting cut into little thin American slices by same group of samurai...

Good heavens, I've been practicing western swordplay for the past ten years, and have no illusions about how well I'd do against even degraded late-model samurai: "Yeah, he had a duel here-- I think there's a little of him left in that bucket over there."

On reflection-- didn't John Woo swear an oath to never direct TC again once MI:2 wrapped?

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Tue May 20, 2003 10:28 -0700

Mmm... I'll have to read some Japanese history... Forgive my ignorance, but what's buke, anyway?

I don't really know anything about that John Woo / Tom Cruise affair. I'm not a John Woo fan

.

takematsu · Post by **takematsu** » Wed May 21, 2003 6:51 -0700

It's only ignorance if you act like you know anyway

; you just hadn't found out yet. Buke were the military class/caste who actually ran things, as opposed to the kuge nobility who... um... hung aroung the emperor and wrote treatises on court manners, I guess. http://www.inisfail.com/~ancients/sam-cult-hist.html has a nice, short discription of the social system, although I suspect there wasn't the formal recognition of Yakuza which it implies.

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Wed May 21, 2003 10:31 -0700

Thanks for the info and the link

Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Off Usagi topic, but Samurai related. Last Samurai movie

Off Usagi topic, but Samurai related. Last Samurai movie

Cruisin' for... ah, I can't think of a joke.

Tom Cruise with fighting action and accessories!