Verdict: An honorable period epic made by honorable people.

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Tom Cruise movie is always a TOM CRUISE MOVIE.

Let me explain. If his new film, “The Last Samurai,” had starred Russell Crowe, it would have been a period epic starring Russell Crowe, much like “Master and Commander.” But with Cruise, every movie he makes, every move he takes, summons up thoughts about his celebrity, his career, his acting, his personal life, even his Oscar chances. Cruise isn't just the star of his movies; he's the core, whether he's a hustling sports agent in “Jerry Maguire” or an activist Vietnam vet in “Born on the Fourth of July.”

In “The Last Samurai,” he plays Capt. Nathan Algren, a bitter, washed-up, alcoholic Army officer still haunted by what he saw — and what he did — during the Civil War and the Indian wars that follow. He spends his time getting blasted and shilling rifles for the Winchester company. His drunken presentations ooze self-loathing.

Then a former comrade-in-arms (Billy Connolly) and a former hated colleague (Tony Goldwyn) ask him to join them in a lucrative adventure — traveling to Japan to teach the Emperor's army how to use Western firepower. The implied result isn't just the defeat of the rebel Samurai warriors, who still believe in the traditional ways of swords and arrows, but that the United States will have the inside track on a trade agreement with Japan, a country just now feeling the lure of Western ways. (Thematically, the film is very similar to Stephen Sondheim's “Pacific Overtures,” with its clash of East vs. West, tradition vs. modernization, warriors vs. businessmen.)

No wonder the delicate boy emperor's main advisor is apprehensive when Algren asks for books to learn about the Samurai. He fears the warriors' code of honor will appeal to his new hired gun. “I don't give a damn about Samurai,” Algren growls. “I like to know my enemy.”

Turns out, so does Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), the Samurais' charismatic leader. Impressed by Algren's very “Cool Hand Luke” refusal to give up — even when wounded and outnumbered, after a disastrous skirmish between the troops-in-training and the seasoned Samurai — Katsumoto decides to spare the American and bring him to a remote mountain village to recuperate. Naturally, it's a Shangri-la knock-off, full of serenity, beauty and ancient wisdom.

Not surprisingly, Algren comes to admire his former enemy (remember, the name is “The Last Samurai”). He and Katsumoto, who likes to practice his English, even engage in brief, oddly formal exchanges that sound a lot like Mrs. Anna and Yul Brynner.

As did Kevin Costner's Oscar-winning “Dances with Wolves,” the picture integrates the past and present, using a 21st-century sensibility to help us relate to 19th-century Japan. And again, like the Costner movie, it's an intimate epic, alternating smaller two- or three- person scenes with rousing combat sequences. Director Edward Zwick can't quite emulate the poetic majesty of Akira Kurosawa's “Ran,” but as he proved in “Glory,” he knows how to stage an impressive battle. Especially powerful is a scene in which the Samurai are attacked in their own home by Ninja, who slither over the village roofs like a dark wave of silent death. Samurai vs. Ninja! It has the same WOW! factor as Batman vs. Spidey.

Though the movie is somewhat derivative, it never feels formulaic. However, it can come off as overly schematic. The right characters die in the right sequence (Connolly bites the dust early, while Goldwyn stays in the picture until the end). Or consider a scene in which soldiers taunt a young samurai. It exists solely to show us that the innocent pleasant peasants Algren left behind while he was held captive have become strutting Westernized bullies. Translation: now it's OK to kill them.

Still,“The Last Samurai” is a handsome, well-crafted production with strong work by the magnetic Watanabe and by Cruise, who continues to make riskier choices than he needs to. Like the Samurai, he has a certain sense of honor about what he does.

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