Tom Cruise (not on my list of great actors) does his best to spoil this film ... but at least he fails (until the end!)

The positives: The film gathers pace nicely with a fairly spectacular battle at the end. The cinematography is excellent with fabulous locations (what is it about New Zealand?) and great atmospheric shots. The costumes are superb and the Japanese characters are generally well portrayed. Thank goodness we actually had the Japanese speak Japanese (with subtitles), rather than having a bunch of actors with fake accents.

The negatives: Spectacularly contrived ending with just one survivor. Guess who!!! (Tom, if you have a clause in your contract which doesn't allow your character to die in a film, PLEASE delete it! We missed out on a much more poignant ... and believable ... ending.) The usual Americanisation, although to be fair, the baddie was an American too, so one extra star for not having him as a Brit (played by an American with a naff accent ... the makers of "Saints & Soldiers" please note!)

Overall, a nicely paced, well shot film with great action sequences, TOTALLY let down by the dire ending.

I don't know if this was a personal film of Mr Cruise or one that an actor has to do so he can do a better film as part of a deal, but this film is silly. If you value your time and your life you wouldn't and shouldn't waste those precious hours watching this funny little man picking up the martial arts as quick and as adeptly as he does, and better than his friends who grew up with it. I should have been paid to watch this drearly overlong fantasy as yet again Cruise tantalises us with being placed in peril only to survive against the odds. This is all well and good for his fans but what about those people who would like to see him fail or die a spectacular, and early, screen death in a film of his instead of boring us all the way through to the credits with his bad acting where you can tell he is only pretending at doing what he's doing in any scene he's in. He is silly and the film is silly. I think by just not watching this film, anybodys life will be extended by this films running time.

For the first hour and forty minutes this is a near faultless film which examines the very heart of the human soul. Cruise plays a brilliant US army soldier, Captain Algren who has seen one too many battles and is haunted by the horrific injustices dealt to the American Indians by himself and his fellow US soldiers.

He is offered a large sum of money to train the Japanese army so that it can fight the last of the rebel Samurai tribes. In the opening battle he is captured by the Samurai and it is then that he can see the parallel with the Indians and eventually switches sides. All this is beautifully filmed and some of the scenes in the Samurai village, when Captain Algren is gradually adapting to the Samurai way of life reminded me of Kevin Costners Dances with Wolves.

I am not especially a fan of Tom Cruise but he is good in this. However it is Ken Watanabe as the Samurai leader Katsumoto who shines throughout the film. In supporting roles Billy Connelly and Timothy Spall are both
very good.

Sadly in the last half hour the film lost a lot of credibility for me, hence I have only given it four stars. Without giving away the ending I can't be specific in my criticism of this part, but suffice to say I wish the writers had come up with something better and more believable!

Overall though its a very good film, which I think will improve on 2nd and 3rd viewings.

I really wanted to like this film, but quite frankly just can't bring myself to. Cruise has really gone downhill since his glory days, and (given the proportion of this film that features him either alone or being quiet) he simply doesn't have the charisma to carry this movie.

It's not all bad though - redeeming features include the beautiful cinematography and setting, and the great performance put in by the female lead (sorry, I forget her name).

I really enjoyed this movie. I cannot comment with great authority on it's historical accuracy but can comment on it's fantastic scenery, engaging plot, wonderful characters and action scenes. Say what you like about "Mr Scientology", he is also Mr Versatile and gives 100% in his roles, and this is definitely one of his better performances. Ken Watanabe as Katsumoto shines also, and the chemistry between the two as enemies turned "friends to the end" is inspirational. Timothy Spall is a joy, as always, in his cameo role of diplomat come photographer, a long way from his german builders hut.
A great film, with a big heart.