this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2025
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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month 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.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Yes, it's a classic "white savior" trope.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

What did he save? Literally everyone but Meiji-backed forces dies at the end.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

he die didn't save shit though :D

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Oh man I just remembered how great that could have been.

Red Dead 2 dealt with racist cults so elegantly.

And Far Cry 5's "Oh we're going there!" And making the most surface-level milquetoast bullshit I have ever seen.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Joke's on you; neither are OK. The Last Samurai is only good to those with weird exotic ideas about Samurai, Japan, and that time period.

Would be cool if there was a series about the actual French admiral that movie is based on, and all the political miandering that happened in that time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Loved the film as a kid, would be down to watch that series if it was ever created!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

I remember people complaining about that movie when it came out actually

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago

People raging about videogames being woke

VERSUS

People raging about people raging about videogames being woke.

...FIGHT!!!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

In the same way that someone replaced all rainbow flags with confederate battle flags in Spiderman, someone's gonna mod the game to change the character's texture, then racists will also be happy (unless the game is shitty idk).

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

Why do people manufacture arguments like this? Who is arguing that one is okay while the other isn’t? A couple random people on the Internet?

The only thing I can think of is The Last Samurai is a 20 year old movie and that somehow means not bringing up this historic fictional movie = you’re okay about a white dude becoming a samurai but not okay about a black dude becoming a samurai.

Whataboutism at its finest.

Did it not occur to this person that perhaps some people just don’t care about the movie, haven’t seen the movie, or plain just didn’t bring it up because it’s a movie? Is it “double standards” for one to pick their battles and not be enraged at everything all the time? My god this shit is exhausting.

Disclaimer: I have no opinion on the game itself because I frankly don’t care about it because I’m not the biggest Ubisoft fan outside of Rayman. Nor does the above necessarily reflect my opinion on the game’s historical accuracy. I’ve always loved The Last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha though and find both beautiful and touching films, so make of that as you will.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago

It is a fighting game with stereotypical characters. Not historically accurate in any way. This is astroturfing by some org that wants racial in fighting

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The only thing I can think of is The Last Samurai is a 20 year old movie and that somehow means not bringing up this historic fictional movie = you’re okay about a white dude becoming a samurai but not okay about a black dude becoming a samurai.

You should watch the movie. Cruise's character does not become a samurai. He spends time with the last samurai.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You should read the rest of my post. You would have learned that I have watched it.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago

If that was true then why did you completely misstate what the movie was about? Cruise does not become a samurai at any point.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

I like how OP also chose to do zero research of all the controversy of the Last Samurai, and the years of PR control.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

when you dont have arguments that fit with what you want to do, you make up your own.

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