Movie Review The Creator

The Creator (2023) 

Directed by Gareth Edwards 

Written by Gareth Edwards, Chris Weitz 

Starring John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Allison Janney 

Release Date September 29th, 2023 

Published October 2nd, 2023 

The Creator stars John David Washington as Joshua Taylor. Make note of that biblical name, it means something. Joshua is a double agent of the future. In this future world, A.I was built to make life easier for Americans. That worked until the A.I got too real and decided to nuke Los Angeles. Some time after that, America has banned A.I and is at war with New Asia, a country that has become a haven for A.I living in among the human population as equals. Joshua is a spy who was tasked with getting close to Maya (Gemma Chan), who is believed to be the daughter of the Nirmata, the A.I creator. 

Nirmata, we are told, has been working on a weapon that could turn the tide of the war between America and New Asia. This new A.I weapon is evolving quickly and will carry the ability to destroy non-A.I technology, like that used by the U.S military. Joshua's assignment works better than expected as not only does he get close to Maya, the two fall in love and Maya gets pregnant. That's when things hit the fan as the Americans decide to attack without warning Joshua first. In the attack, it appears that Maya and the rest of Joshua's band of A.I brothers, are killed. 

Returning to America, Joshua takes a crappy job and appears ready to spend the rest of his life guiltily drinking himself to death. That's when he's approached by General Andrews (Ralph Ineson) and Colonel Howell (Allison Janney). They have proof that Maya is still alive and they want Joshua to go to New Asia on a mission to reconnect with her and by extension, get close to the new A.I weapon so that it can be destroyed before it evolves to destroy the American military. That's the plan anyway, these things in movies tend to fall apart and fall apart they do. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review: Cirque Du Freak The Vampire's Assistant

Cirque Du Freak The Vampire's Assistant (2009) 

Directed by Paul Weitz

Written by Paul Weitz, Brian Helgeland 

Starring John C. Reilly Chris Massoglia, Josh Hutcherson, Ken Watanabe, Ray Stevenson

Release Date October 23rd, 2009 

Published October 22nd, 2009

Vampires are hot in Hollywood thanks to Twilight. That massive hit film will spawn a sequel later this year. directed by Chris Weitz, of American Pie fame. Twilight also likely played a part in the film adaptation of another lit based Vampire tale. Ironically this too has been directed by someone named Weitz. Paul Weitz brings Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant to the big screen ahead of his brother Chris's New Moon. It's fair to assume Chris will have a great deal more success than Paul has had with this abysmal mishmash of kid flick and vamp flick.

Chris Massoglia takes the lead in Cirque Du Freak as Darren. A spider obsessed power nerd, Darren is modestly popular at school but not exactly king of the school. His status is dragged down a bit by his hot headed best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson) whose own obsession with vampires will soon land them both in hot water.

One afternoon as the boys are lamenting a lack of things to do in their small town they find a very intriguing flyer. It's an ad for something called Cirque Du Freak and it promises something well beyond either boy's previous experience. Taking in the show they witness a woman who can grow back her limbs, a man with two stomachs and finally a vampire magician named Crepsley (John C. Reilly).

When the Cirque is broken up early by an invading mob of angry townspeople Darren ends up stealing Crepsley's prized and dangerous spider. Steve meanwhile tries to become a vampire and is turned away by Crepsley. Soon, because of the spider and a deal with Crepsley it is Darren who ends up a vampire. Steve meanwhile turns to Crepsley's enemy for help.

There is a great deal more minutias in this plot but I just didn't care enough to detail it. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant is an all out mess of plot strands, extranneous characters and a complete waste of time. The nature of the film is as the start of a franchise so going in you know their will be no resolution. What is surprising is how little you care whether the story resolves anything at all.

Paul Weitz is a talented writer and director with a strong wit and daring sensibility. His Amercan Idol parody American Dreamz was also a disaster but one you have to respect for taking big, daring risks. That film walked a tightrope and fell off but was brave in its failures.

There is nothing remotely brave or even daring about Cirque Du Freak. Piggybacking off the success of other vampire franchises and a successful book series, The Vampire's Assistant is just lame kiddie fare dressed up in halloween makeup and dumped onto the screen with a minimum of coherence.

It simply doesn't work. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant knocks off a few boring vampire cliches, keeps the blood and death to a very bare minimum and fails in every way to find something interesting or vaguely entertaining to do with it's sprawling premise and characters.

Movie Review Letters from Iwo Jima

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) 

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by Iris Yamashita 

Starring Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya 

Release Date December 20th, 2006

Published December 18th, 2006

Clint Eastwood's bold decision to take on both sides of the battle of Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest and most devastating battles of World War 2, has paid off with not one but two extraordinary films. Flags of Our Fathers covered the American side of the war from the battle on the field to the battle at home. Now Letters From Iwo Jima has arrived with the story from the Japanese perspective. If Iwo Jima is slightly more successful than Flags it's because it is more battle focused with a cleaner narrative line. Together they mark a cinematic achievement that only a true master could have created.

With the Americans closing in on the Japanese homeland a tiny sliver of land is all that keeps the Japanese from being overrun. The tiny isle of Iwo Jima is a strategic spot in the pacific where the American forces hope to launch a full scale invasion of Japan. If the Japanese army can somehow hold Iwo Jima that may not win the war but they could stave off the invasion.

Leading the defense of Iwo Jima is the great General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe). Having been trained by the Americans, General Kuribayashi is ideally suited to counter the American invasion. Rather, he would be ideal under better circumstances. On Iwo Jima, the general will find himself desperately outnumbered with no air support and reserve troops withheld to protect the next island in the chain.

On the opposite side of the command structure is a draftee named Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya) who was a humble baker and now finds himself facing death on Iwo Jima. Saigo is a terrible soldier. It's not that he doesn't love his country, just that he was never bred to be a soldier.

The General and the grunt tell the story of Iwo Jima in letters they mail back to the homeland. The letters of the real life General Kuribayashi were the basis of Iris Yamashita's book Letters From Iwo Jima. With an assist from Oscar winning screenwriter Paul Haggis, Yamashita adapted the letters into the story of this legendary battle in all of its terrifying, doomed glory.

The look of the film has the same washed out, dreary, grays of Flags of Our Fathers. The bleakness of battle is conveyed by the lack of color, aside from the red of blood which, while it isn't enhanced by effects, is the only color that really stands out. Working with cinematographer Tom Stern, who did the same job on Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood tells the story of Iwo Jima as much with his visuals as with his compelling human drama.

Ken Watanabe was a natural to play the honorable General Kuribayashi. His face is a map of dignity, grace and stern steadfast dedication, qualities that the real life General, no doubt, would have had. His voice overs in the letters begin with a resigned courage and patriotism and slowly evolve with the courage intact but an increasing amount of sadness and disappointment. These are all extraordinarily subtle touches and Watanabe makes them all count.

Setting the story entirely on the battlefield gives Letters From Iwo Jima a tighter focus than Flags Of Our Fathers which limped a little when telling the story of soldiers at home after the battle. The few brief sojourns off the battlefield, flashbacks to the General's time in America, are brief and serve the purpose of deepening this already fascinating character.

Taken together Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima are the kind of bold cinematic achievement that only a great master could conceive. Clint Eastwood was already a legend, now he is truly an auteur. Even those audiences that are opposed to war movies will be moved by the compelling and very human drama of both sides of the battle of Iwo Jima.

Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima are movies that demand to be seen.

Movie Review Inception

Inception (2010) 

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Written by Christopher Nolan 

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine

Release Date July 16th, 2010 

Published July 15th, 2010 

“Inception” is the best movie of the year. Combining a mind melting metaphysical conceit with a wildly entertaining story, “Inception” from director Christopher Nolan is not merely some exercise in high minded, arty filmmaking, it's also a rollercoaster ride of emotion and action like little you have seen since the last time Christopher Nolan blew your mind with “The Dark Knight.”

”Inception” stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, a globetrotting con man whose milieu is not seedy bars or corporate boardrooms but rather, the depths of the human psyche. Cobb can enter your mind through your dreams but unlike Freddy Krueger he's not here to kill but to rob you of your deepest, most well protected secrets.

With his team, including Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt), Eames (Tom Hardy, Bronson), Ariadne (Elliot Page) and money man Mr. Saito (Ken Watanabe), Cobb sneaks into the subconscious of a corporate heir named Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy). This job however, is different from the team's usual theft of secrets, this time they are attempting an Inception wherein they planting an idea in Fischer's mind in hopes of influencing his future.

Complicated? It sure sounds complicated but under the skilled direction of Christopher Nolan and the guiding performance of Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception is only rarely mystifying. The story is elaborate and exceptionally well put together and even at 2 hours and 40 minutes it floats by like a dream, one you can't help but remember.

I am being intentionally vague as too much information could spoil the fun. I will tell you that Oscar nominee Marion Cotillard plays Cobb's wife and it's a performance that exceeds even the genius of her Oscar winning role in “La Vie En Rose.” The way Cotillard's character, Mal, is woven into the plot will blow your mind in the most unexpected ways.

”Inception” is exceptionally well directed and intricately plotted and features career best performances from DiCaprio, Cotillard, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Elliot Page. Rounding out this cast are veterans Michael Caine, Pete Postlethwaite and Tom Berenger, all of whom bring something unique and fascinating to this remarkable, epic dreamy adventure. “Inception” will require further examination and discussion but that can wait for the DVD release. For now, avoid the spoilers and experience “Inception” for yourself. We’ll talk more about it later.

Movie Review: Batman Begins

Batman Begins (2005) 

Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Written by Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer

Starring Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman

Release Date June 15th, 2005 

Published June 14th, 2005 

Joel Schumacher has committed a number of cinematic sins. His destruction of Andrew Kevin Walker's darkly brilliant script for 8mm or last years 3 hour tin-eared musical Phantom Of the Opera come immediately to mind. But without a doubt Schumacher's most damnable sin is his destruction of the Batman film series. Batman Forever and Batman and Robin are atrocious examples of a director completely bent to the will of marketing executives. A director more interested in creating synergistic toy products and fast food tie-ins than in making entertaining movies.

Eight years after Schumacher killed it, and through three years of torturous development Batman has risen from the ashes once again and in the hands of director Christopher Nolan, an artist and auteur of the highest regard, Batman is not merely back, the D.C Comics franchise is better than ever. Rivaling Raimi's Spiderman and Singer's X-Men, Nolan's Batman Begins is a visionary comic book film worthy of the icon status of the character.

Batman Begins is an origin story that brings fans into the mind of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) before Batman and shows us why a millionaire playboy would put on a bat suit and fight crime. Locked away in some far off Asian prison a scruffy but handsome American certainly sticks out. Battered and bruised Bruce Wayne has fought everyday he's been in this prison but his latest battle against several large thugs at once brings him to the attention of another handsome westerner, Henri Ducard played by Liam Neeson.

Ducard is a representative of Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe), leader of the League Of Shadows, a thousand year-old order dedicated to vigilantism. The League Of Shadows fancy themselves ninja crime fighters and in Bruce Wayne they see an asset both physically and otherwise. The League is preparing to raze Gotham City, purging the city of its criminality and anything else that might be in the way. Bruce has a choice: join the League and destroy Gotham or return alone to defend the innocent people of the city.

Returning to his home in Gotham City (Chicago standing in, not New York in this version) Wayne finds the metropolis in ruinous poverty. Crime rules the streets led by mob boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). Among the few good people of Gotham are Bruce's butler, Alfred (the superb Michael Caine), and his childhood friend, Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), who works as an assistant prosecutor fighting a losing battle with corruption.

Bruce's fortune is intact, the family business is under the control of a corrupt executive played by Rutger Hauer and working in the shadows is a former family friend, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), whose work on various military projects for the company will certainly come in handy when Bruce Wayne is ready to transform into the caped crusader. It is Lucius Fox who creates the suit, the gadgets and the new military style Batmobile, even cooler than the sports car version from Tim Burton's Batman.

The film plumbs the depths of Bruce's past, the biggest factor to his becoming Batman. A childhood accident bred in him a fear of bats. It's a fear that is also linked to the death of his parents in a mugging outside a theater when Bruce was eight years old. A taste for vengeance is what led Bruce to his Asian adventure and the teachings of Ducard are what lead to his taking his fear of the bat as his symbol when he finally decides to take a stand against crime.

It's an extraordinarily detailed and logical story that fits perfectly into the dark atmospheric universe that director Christopher Nolan and writer David S. Goyer, of Blade fame, have created. This Gotham City is in part the vision of Frank Miller's Year One graphic novel balanced with the Auteurist vision of Nolan who nods to Miller but makes the look and feel of the film his own.

Christian Bale is the perfect blend of movie star handsome and brooding maniac, the essence of the Bruce Wayne-Batman dichotomy. Though Batman holds the typical moral values of a superhero-- he captures but does not kill-- he has a definite weird streak.  As Bruce himself points out, "A guy who dresses up as a bat clearly has issues". Those 'issues' are given a thorough and complete examination in Batman Begins and as played by Mr. Bale, they are given the depth and emotionality that the character has lacked in his former movie incarnations.

The supporting cast is exemplary, especially Gary Oldman as "Sgt." Gordon who we all know will someday be Police Commissioner Gordon. This is his origin as well and, with Oldman in this pivotal role, we have a solid basis for further great stories to be told. Katie Holmes is much better than expected in the role of Bruce's childhood friend and adult love interest. She looks too young and innocent for the position of District Attorney fighting the worst of the worst criminals but she has an unexpected steeliness to her that sells the character.

The villains, the most obvious weakness from the Schumacher films, are given a similar comic book realism to that of Batman. Based more in the reality and logic of the story, the villains in Batman Begins are not super villains with grand schemes of mass murder or world domination but logical extensions of the established corruption of Gotham City. Cillian Murphy is terrific as Dr. Jonathan Crane whose alter ego, the Scarecrow, is no psycho du jour but a functionary of a larger, more logical and ordered plot.

Obviously Nolan's Batman Begins cannot help but be compared with the lofty achievements of Bryan Singer's X-Men and Sam Raimi's Spiderman and it is without a doubt worthy of the comparisons. Batman Begins ranks only behind Raimi's Spiderman 2 as the best comic book adaptation I have seen. An awesomely entertaining and involving action packed feature, Batman is back and better than ever in Batman Begins.

Movie Review Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) 

Directed by Rob Marshall 

Written by Robin Swicord 

Starring Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh, Koji Yakusho

Release Date December 9th, 2005 

Published February 4th, 2006

Perceptions are often fascinating. Take the perception of the Geisha in America. Because of American soldiers who occupied Japan post world war 2, we perceive a geisha to be a Japanese prostitute. That is not true. A geisha is an artist, a trained entertainer and conversationalist whose time is purchased by clients in need of a business facilitator. A geisha provides companionship of the highest order. Another interesting perception involves the movie Memoirs of A Geisha. When Steven Spielberg was attached as the film's director, Memoirs of A Geisha was perceived as a massive romantic epic that would no doubt compete for the highest honors in the film industry.

When Spielberg stepped aside for director Rob Marshall the perception became smaller in scale and the film felt lacking in grandeur and epic scope. This is despite the fact that Mr. Marshall is an Oscar nominated director whose Chicago won Best Picture. Rob Marshall simply isn't Steven Spielberg and because of that the perception of Memoirs of A Geisha is as a film that Steven Spielberg could not find the time to direct. It's a pity because Marshall's Memoirs of A Geisha, while slick and stylized, is also heart-rending and sumptuously beautiful, framed by a lovely and compelling performance by star Ziyi Zhang.

Chiyo (Zhang) was not born to be a geisha. Born in a fishing village in a rickety shack on the edge of a cliff, she was destined to be a wife and mother to a fisherman husband. However, when her mother became ill she and her sister were sold and Chiyo ended up in a geisha house. A spirited child, Chiyo was not willing to simply accept the life of a geisha. It is not until she experiences a rare act of kindness from a stranger known as The Chairman (Ken Watanabe) that the life of a geisha becomes a real possibility. 

One day while Chiyo is crying over the loss of her sister, who was sold into prostitution and soon after disappeared, she meets the Chairman who dries her tears and brings the first smile to her face since the loss of her parents. Seeing the chairman is accompanied by a pair of beautiful geishas, Chiyo decides that she will one day become a geisha so that she may win his heart.

Soon Chiyo has become Sayuri and under the guidance of Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), a legendary geisha, Sayuri becomes the most celebrated geisha in all of Japan. This happens at the expense of  Hatsumomo (Li Gong) who Chiyo had been a servant to throughout her childhood and now had become her chief rival.

Adapted from the best selling novel by Arthur Golden, Memoirs of A Geisha is a story rich in characters and settings. Rob Marshall and writer Robin Swicord craft a loving portrait of the geisha that serves at once to correct misperceptions of the geisha and tell the story of a spirited girl who becomes a fierce, intelligent and beautiful woman.

The key is Zhang Ziyi's performance which fleshes out a character that in the wrong hands could have been carried away by the currents of such a broad character arc that covers more than 30 years of life. Zhang brings a depth of emotion to the character that is more than palpable, it comes off of her in waves. Even as the sociologist in me was questioning the films feminism, I was carried away by Zhang's performance. The performance does not quiet all of my questions of this story's worthiness of being told, but it goes a long way toward making me forgive many of my problems with it.

Here are my issues with the story. Despite the beauty and emotion brought about by Ziyi Zhang's performance I cannot escape the films many anti-feminist underpinnings. Sayuri is never the equal of any man in the film. Everyone from the chairman to his partner to the lecherous American army colonel played by Ted Levine are always seen as superior to Sayuri because she must always do as they say. This is a societal thing, the film is of its time in which women were all considered second class citizens in Japan. 

The problem is that the film offers no critique of this situation, it merely presents it as a framework for the romance between Sayuri and the chairman. A more feminist take would rage against this inequity, in the very least it would offer veiled, sub textual criticisms. But the film remains historically remote in deference to the romance which I'm sure director Rob Marshall and writer Robin Swicord likely felt was what was most important. Therein however, lies another problem for the film. This is not that great of a romance. 

This could be meant as a tragic romance and in a better film that tragedy would be presented and it would be heartbreaking. However, in Arthur Golden's novel and in the film, the choice to be client and geisha is seen as a proper romantic compromise. A loving business arrangement between two friends, not exactly the stuff of romantic legend if you ask me.

I must add one final issue I had with Memoirs of A Geisha. Rob Marshall's choice to shoot the film in English instead of Japanese. This controversial choice was lost in the shuffle early on in the film's life, subsumed by the controversial choice to cast Chinese actresses in Japanese roles. The choice to shoot in English instead of Japanese is an offensive choice creatively because it was not a natural choice or one of necessity but a commercial choice.

Fearing that an audience would not come out for a subtitled film, Marshall and company forced their cast to learn English, thus constricting many of the performances behind thick accents. Then, from time to time, Marshall chooses to lapse into Japanese, such as in the opening scenes which are shot for no particularly good reason in Japanese. Why not just make the whole movie that way? 

Memoirs of a Geisha is set in Japan with Japanese characters, culture and history. It should have been shot in Japanese. That said, as many problems as there are in Memoirs of A Geisha there are plenty of good things. John Williams' score for one, which features the stirring work of both Yitzhak Perelman and Yoyo Ma, is exceptional. This is some of the great composer's best work. It may never be as iconic as his Jaws or Star Wars, but may yet be his best work ever.

The Oscars affirmed that the production design and costumes of Memoirs of A Geisha were its true stars. Colleen Atwood rightfully won an Oscar for her beauty period costumes and John Myhre's set design was also rightly awarded. If the story told in Memoirs of A Geisha were as compelling as the music, sets and costumes, we would be discussing a historic, epic film that would be revered for ages. However, such beauty in service of something so unfocused and lacking, creates a film that will fade from memory far too soon.

Movie Review The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai (2003) 

Directed by Ed Zwick 

Written by John Logan, Ed Zwick, Marshall Herskowitz 

Starring Tom Cruise, Timothy Spall, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connelly, Tony Goldwyn 

Release Date December 5th, 2003 

Published December 4th, 2003 

In his nearly 20-year career as a director, Ed Zwick has yet to show the auteur's spark that separates great directors from good directors. Like a modern Michael Curtiz, Zwick shows flairs of brilliance here and there and, like Curtiz, he makes wonderful, studio-driven pictures, but has yet to find a style of his own. Curtiz made one masterpiece: Casablanca. Zwick has yet to make his masterpiece though, his latest picture, The Last Samurai, approaches greatness, it's conventional, unmemorable style keeps it from being called a masterpiece.

The Last Samurai stars Tom Cruise as a former civil war hero named Nathan Ahlgren who has spent his time since the end of the war inside a whiskey bottle. Working for a company demonstrating firearms for pennies, Ahlgen is trying to forget the horrors of the war by drinking himself to death. Things change when his former army friend Zeb Gant (Billy Connolly) offers him an opportunity to make a lot of money doing what he does best: making war.

The job is to go to Japan and help train the Japanese army in modern warfare. The Japanese are only beginning to use guns and artillery in battle and the emperor of Japan has ordered his closest advisor, Mr. Omura (Japanese director Masato Harada), to bring in the Americans to train the peasant army. The emperor’s advisor is in a precarious situation and must ready the army for war against a rising tide of Samurai warriors who oppose the rapid modernization of their homeland.

The samurai are being displaced as the protectors of Japan by the modern army but, more importantly, their code of conduct--the Bushido--is being pushed aside by the rapid modernization that has brought an influx of foreigners to Japan looking to take advantage of a new market. The samurai don't wish to stand in the way of progress but merely to slow it to a point where history will not be forgotten or, rather, completely erased by so-called progress.

The samurai are lead by the charismatic Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), the last living head of a samurai clan. Once an advisor to the empower, he was cast aside for opposing the encroachment of foreigners. On the battlefield, his prowess as a tactician and warrior has helped his samurai army overcome an army with swords defeating guns.

When Ahlgren, under the command of his former Civil war Colonel Bagley (Tony Goldwyn), is forced to lead an unprepared Japanese army against Katsumoto's samurai, Ahlgren is nearly killed as his platoon of soldiers are slaughtered by the samurai. Katsumoto spares Ahlgren's life after watching him hold off several samurai with merely a broken flagpole. Ahlgren is taken as a prisoner back to the samurais’ mountain enclave. There, his wounds are tended by Katsumoto's sister, Taka (Koyuki). There is a great deal of tension in their relationship for reasons that are best left unsaid.

Ahlgren is held captive throughout the winter and he and Katsumoto develop an uneasy friendship through their quiet conversations about war. Katsumoto reads Ahlgren's journals detailing the Civil War as well as the American army's eradication of the American Indian, something Ahlgren feels gravely guilty about. Gradually, Ahlgren assimilates into the samurai culture and soon he will be forced to choose sides in an inevitable war between the past and the future of Japan.

For Cruise, The Last Samurai marks yet another stellar performance that will likely be overshadowed by his stature as a sex symbol. It doesn't seem to matter how well Cruise performs in any film, his looks and image always get the attention. It's a terrible shame because Cruise is, in my opinion, turning out some of the finest work of any actor working today. His role in The Last Samurai is deserving of a Best Actor nomination and, in a weak field, he is likely to get it. He deserves to win but he deserved to win a couple of times and did not, so I won't get my hopes up.

Watanabe may actually outshine Cruise on Oscar night. His portrayal of Katsumoto is a complicated and brilliant performance that captures the essence of what Zwick wants us to understand of the samurai. Watanabe personifies the samurai warrior code, and communicates its importance to the audience with his subtle intelligence and spirit. If he doesn't win Best Supporting Actor, I will be very disappointed.

For Zwick, The Last Samurai is another signpost on the way to a potential masterpiece. It's an epic work of directorial craftsmanship. What Zwick lacks is a signature style that tells you this is an Ed Zwick film. The Last Samurai is a slave to conventional three-act filmmaking and conventional shooting styles. It is, without a doubt, a terrific work, but it comes up short of being a masterpiece because it's too slick and stylish. The film is too easily fit into a Hollywood marketing campaign to be a significant work of art.

The Last Samurai must settle for being a terrific work of pop entertainment, a conventional Hollywood work of crafty brilliance that showcases a star at the height of his abilities and a director with the potential for greatness.