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Cruise's 'Samurai'
thrives on action
•uise wages war in
review by Daniel J. Stasiewski
a&e editor
There are two different Tom Cruises. One is the
serious actor, whose performances in films like
"Magnolia," "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Jerry
Maguire" were so riveting they made me forget
there was a Hollywood icon on the screen. Then
there's Cruise the action star. He controls the events
and the overall power of the film with his status
more than his acting.
In "The Last Samurai," we get a solid action
oriented performance from Cruise. He's a star, not
a warrior, much like Mel Gibson in "The Patriot."
And with that, "The Last Samurai" is just another
action movie. At its best points the film is exciting,
but it's mostly melodramatic and formulaic. The
grandiose production values create a world that is
aesthetically intriguing, but "The Last Samurai"
lacks the mellow characterization that creates a thor
oughly remarkable film.
Cruise plays Capt. Nathan Algren, an American
war vet who was involved in the slaughter of . Na-,
tive Americans during the government's expansion
west. Haunted by the memories of his involvement
in the vicious massacres, Algren's only comfort is
alcohol, and he pays for it by being a spokesperson
for the Winchester Rifle Company.
After a particularly bad day at work (shooting
the rifle over the heads of audience members),
Algren receives a lucrative offer to help out the Japa
nese military in its modernization. The captain is
chosen by a Japanese diplomat, Omura (Masato
Harada), for his skill in dealing with the "barbarian
red men." It is hoped that his experience will help
the Japanese government suppress the Samurai re
bellion. Unfortunately, he has to work under Col.
Bagley (Tony Goldwyn), an American military
commander, who, with Algren, spilled innocent In
dian blood.
Algren hates Bagley for his arrogance and igno
rance but takes the job anyway. In the first over
zealous confrontation, the Samurai warriors easily
defeat an ill-prepared Japanese military and Algren
is nearly killed. The Samurai chieftain, Katsumoto
(Ken Wantanbe), however, sees the fire in Algren's
fight and takes him back to their village. Once there,
Algren must live with the savages he is supposed
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to be annihilating and begins to see the way of the
Samurai as his only salvation.
Algren goes through a transformation in the
Samurai village, but it's the kind of miraculous
change of heart, from alcoholic contract killer to
honorable Samurai hero, that I mentioned in my
review of "Master and Commander." The change
is so blatant that Cruise's character, though still not
flawless, achieves picture perfect redemption. He
almost does it graceful ly, but a heartfelt transfor
mation, along with the rest of the film, is thwarted
in part by distracting narration. The voiceovers add
useless introspection to Cruise's already clear, if si
lent, performance and undercut cinematographer
John Toll's transcendent images.
Director Edward Zwick says that Akira
Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" inspired him early on
in life and set him up to become a filmmaker. Watch
ing "The Last Samurai," I'd say there's more Rich
ard Donner in this film than Kurosawa. The film
centers on the action and allows the more intimate
scenes to be marred by its overwhelming
cheesiness.
Beyond the melodrama, the film has certain tech
nical achievements. I admired its ambitious scale
and the magnificent period design. Just seeing a
person wearing Samurai armor is an awe-inspiring
image. Its unfortunate that the film fails to achieve
emotionally what it does technically.
I don't know if there is a bit of historical accu
racy to this film, and truthfully I don't care. If a
film doesn't at least make me believe it could have
happened, it doesn't matter if it did or didn't. As far
as I'm concerned "The Last Samurai" is so dramatic
and so cinematic, for the sake of anyone actually
involved in such a rebellion, I hope there isn't a
shred of truth to this story. "The Last Samurai" is
fun and exciting, but that's what I would expect from
a "Rush Hour" sequel, not a genuine epic.
"The Last Samu
rai," directed by
Edward Zwick and
starring Tom
Cruise and Ken
Wantanbe, is now
playing at Tinseltown
emas.
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Friday, December 12, 2003
ti& 1/2
out of
4 stars
and the Eastway Plaza
laves bring hard rock
with clean message
by Greg Smith
contributing writer
Many times nowadays there are negative con
notations attached to modern bands, especially
bands specializing in hard rock and metal. Sto
ries of drug use and alcoholism, wild parties and
flamboyant lifestyles float around the music in
dustry. Lately, it's refreshing to see a band
whose music brings a positive message with it,
&band with strong convictions that isn't changed
by the ever powerful influences of success and
the dollar sign.
Mainstream hard rock band Slaves On Dope
personifies the ideas mentioned above while
continuing to build a fan-base and gaining criti-
Cid acclaim. Judging by the band's web site,
the four Canadian rockers seem to be laid-back,
down-to-earth guys who love to play Playstation
and watch hockey as much as they love their
music and displaying it on stage. And their
SUMO no-drugs-and-alcohol stance is one eas
ily found in their music, but is much harder to
find among people who share their profession
today.
SOD draws from a wide range of influences,
from hard rock legends Led Zeppelin and AC/
DC to bands like Depeche Mode and Stone
Temple Pilots, and even some unexpected per
formers, like,Fionna Apple and Marvin Gaye.
The band, which consists of bassist Frank
Salvagglo . , percussionist Rob Urbani, vocalist
Jason Rockman, and guitarist Kevin Jordine, has
successfully mixed said influences into its mu
sic on its much-awaited album entitled
*Metafoue While listening to a sampler of a
few tracks from the album, it's easy to see that
SOD is passionate about its music and its mes-
The tracks weave powerful, low-end guitar
riffs from Jordine and Salvaggio's throbbing
bass lines with emotional and telling lyrics from
vocalist Rockman. The driving force of the
band, though, is drummer Urbani, who throws
out fUll.foroe beats - fills on tracks like
•And a
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Metal band Slaves On Dope will perform at
the State Street Tavern on Thursday. •
"Go." SOD mixes it up on the album, satisfy
ing hard-core fans with songs like "Poster Boy"
and giving fans a taste of their softer side with
the standout track, "So Clear," a song that mixes
acoustic and hard, distorted guitar for a pleas
ant success.
Rockman sings from the heart about love, risk
taking, and alcohol abuse, to name a few issues
("Want to give you the honest answer / Want to
tell you how much I care / Want to give you what
you've given me"). While covering a range of
vocal stylings including a thrashing scream and
spoken word, Rockman's great clean voice
works best on SOD's tunes.
The band also loves the live-life, and as
Jardine puts it on SOD's web site, "the stage is
where it all happens." SOD has had a pretty
illustrious touring career so far, supporting the
likes of hard-rock staples Papa Roach, Soulfly,
Linkin Park, and Fear Factory. After moving to
L.A. in 1999, the band met Sharon Osboume
and was asked to play the prestigious OzzFest
in 2000 and 2001.
SOD is currently in the middle of a U.S. club
tour, and will be making a stop at Erie's State
Street Tavern on Thursday. The show will fea
ture local bands Criminally Insane, Self In
flicted, Crawl and Waiting For Never, a band
composed of former members of Scud and OSB.
The show is all ages and starts at 8 p.m.
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