• circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
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    6 days ago

    The fun thing about The Last Samurai is that the title doesn’t refer to Tom Cruise. He does not play a samurai in the film. He plays an American officer.

    He hangs with a group of samurai, who are collectively the last of their kind.

    That said, plenty of people complained about it in its day.

    • xavier666@lemm.ee
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      5 days ago

      I might be terribly incorrect.

      But i remember that Tom Cruise’s character switches sides in the movie after spending time with the Samurai (He was captured by them). He trains under them and becomes a Samurai. In the end, they fight against the (British?) and lose due to a gattling gun. All the Samurai die except for Tom’s character. So symbolically, Tom is the Last Samurai.

      • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
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        5 days ago

        It is implied that Tom Cruise dies at the end. I think the confusion comes from a voice over, but you never see the character on screen again.

        He also does not “become a samurai”. He fights alongside them, but at no point do they call him a samurai.

        Edit: looks like that link is wrong. He doesn’t die at the end. I guess memory is a fickle beast.

        • xavier666@lemm.ee
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          5 days ago

          He also does not “become a samurai”

          Correct. That’s why I said symbolically.

          but you never see the character on screen again

          I maybe incorrect but towards the end of the movie, the Emperor asks how Katsumoto died, to which Tom Cruise replies “I’ll tell you how he lived”. So he was alive?

          • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
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            5 days ago

            Hm, I may need to rewatch it myself. That also doesn’t match what the link above suggests about interpreting the ending: “Algren finds redemption through his newfound purpose and ultimately sacrifices his life for the cause he once opposed.”

            Edit: I just checked the last scene. You’re right, he doesn’t actually die. Which means the link is also wrong.

            Still, I think it’s a stretch to say he’s the last samurai, since he never really becomes a samurai. One important note is that samurai is “samurai” in the plural, too.