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Rating: - Outstanding
While no movie is perfect, and all art can be improved, this effort comes pretty close. More than an action movie, a story of personal redemption, or the saga of a nation in turmoil, it is a blending of all three. The film blends the the epic and the personal, the external and the internal in masterful fashion. No movie except Lawrence of Arabia has done it as well.

Cruise does well in his role, but the finest performances come from the Japanese cast. Ken Watanabe's portrayal of the Samurai leader is timeless; an oscar-lock in the supporting category. The technical elements of the film are all impecable, but none distracts from the film. The part never obscurs the whole, the action never eclipses the drama.

This is a film that must be seen, must be experienced. It takes an immediate place on my all-time list, blending the power of Braveheart with the feeling and morality of The Mission. A rare and remarkable achievement.

 

Rating: - One of my favorite films
I have never been a fan of Tom Cruise, but after watching this movie my opinion of him has slowly begin to change. Granted, Cruise is a good actor, but there are several others I would place ahead of him in terms of acting ability and on camera congeniality. Nevertheless, I believe The Last Samurai is one of Tom Cruise's best films, if not his best film ever, because he does an outstanding job of portraying the role of Capt. Nathan Algren; Algren is a Civil War and Indian War veteran who is tortured over the atrocities he has viewed and committed on the front lines. These experiences have transformed Algren into a man filled with bitterness and cynicism and driven him to embrace alcohol as his escape mechanism from reality.

Cruise does an excellent job of capturing this particular spirit in the film. Even though Cruise's performance is excellent, the film is only bolstered by the performances by the performances of Watanabe and the rest of the cast. Watanabe was simply terrific as the Samurai warlord, Katsumoto. On screen he exuded a kind of gentle but stern warrior aura, and showed he was a man of astute intellectual abilities. In his performace Watanabe displayed all the qualities and characteristics that were essential to the Samurai. Besides the performances the battle sequences and costumes were spectacular. In addition, the scenery and setting were also very good and captured the atmosphere of a 19th century Japan that was experiencing rapid Westernization. At several instances in the film it is easy to see vestiges of traditional Eastern Japansese culture stand side by side with modern Western culture. Last but not least, the musical score by Hans Zimmer is phenomenal. As always, Zimmer delivers a rousing an emotional score that complements the film and actually heightens the sensitivity at certain crucial moments of the film.

My only criticism of this movie is that Tom Cruise was focued upon too much. It would have been nice if the other characters, Ujio, Taka, and Katsumoto, received more screen time since they were all so likeable and each delivers a great performance. Slight criticism aside, this is one of my favorite movies of all time and one I would recommend to virtually anyone who asked.

 

Rating: - Tom Cruise At His Best!!!!
I am not especially a big Tom Cruise fan but this was an EXCEPTIONAL Film. I can see that a lot of time and effort went into the making of this wonderful film. This action packed film keeps you on the edge of your seat and will also tear at your heart. It is a must have for all serious film buffs and dvd collectors. I will watch this film again and again.
 

Rating: - Peter Jackson's Closing Chapter To The Greatest Trilogy Ever
MOVIE: The closing chapter to Peter Jackson's epic fantasy tale based on the famous book finally hits DVD. This best picture winner is the definition of epic. What really makes the film so enjoyable is not the intense battles or the amazing special effects, but the characters. We have watched these characters grow from the first film all the way to this. If the characters didn't work then the film would have been a failure. What Lord Of The Rings has going for it is that, yes it's a fictional tale between good and evil, but it relates to real world events both historic and modern. One other observation that I had is how similar this film resembles a game of chess. You've got the Orcs as the pawns, the Trolls and towers as the rooks, the Oliphants as the knights, the queen can bee seen as the witch king, and the king as Sauran. Then we have similar resemblances on the good side. Even in one scene Gandalf says,"the board is set, the pieces are moving". The movie is the greatest fantasy epic ever made and an excellent closure to the trilogy. This will become a classic and is a masterpiece. I find it amazing how Peter Jackson came from doing bad horror films into something like this.

VIDEO: Absolutely perfect, a flawless 2.35:1 widescreen presentation.

AUDIO: A Dolby EX 5.1 mix that is just as amazing as the other films. The technical quality is consistent on all three theatrical editions of the film.

PACKAGING / EXTRAS: This comes in a blue colored Armaray case. The first movie's color theme was green, the second was red, and the third blue. The extras are almost identical to the other two theatrical sets. You have some specials from different tv stations, the typical "making of", in depth featurettes, trailers, the near 7 minute long trailer for the entire series as a whole, a look at the EA games of the series, and your lordoftherings.net featurettes. As you know, the real meat is going to be in the extended edition this fall. A must have set that keeps the consistency of the series on DVD.

Movie Score: (5 Stars / 5 Stars)
DVD Score: (9 / 10)

 

Rating: - The Perfect Conclusion
It is interesting to me how a review could contain the ideas that this movie doesn't contain good special effects, and that there is "hope that no one buys this movie". First, the special effects in the movie are astounding, yet not overwhelming. Realism is key here, and the movie accomplishes this without question. Second, the "hope" that no one purchases this movie just speaks of bias. Anyone worth their salt would give opinion and allow others to form their own by viewing this movie. Unlike perhaps the Matrix series, in which the latter two movies are mere shadows of the first, this concludes the series with consistency and, again, accuracy to the tale.

That being said, I agree with other viewers that this is a fitting and incredible end to our journey through an intense and accurate depiction of the books through film. I await the extended version eagerly.

 

Rating: - I never thought I would like this saga.........was I wrong!
I must have bought the first volume of LOTR a couple of years back and never saw it until I could purchase the last and current DVD. I can tell you I thought it would be hopelessly bloated. It was a surprise when the story came together and we see the main character attempting to destroy the evil ring.
 

I never thought I would enjoy these films so much.

This comes from a person who never read the books or cared for the fantasy genre.

If you like science fiction and fantasy....This is the saga that inspired them all...there is no comparison...