THE LAST SAMURAI (1990)
A film review by Christopher E. Meadows Copyright 1999 Christopher E. Meadows
MPAA: R
Written and Directed by Paul Mayersberg Produced by Tony Carbone
Starring: John Fujioka, Lance Henriksen, Arabella Holzbog, John Saxon
Review Rating: 4 out of 10.
It's a sad state of affairs when the back box blurb is more exciting than the movie contained within it.
Such is the case for the 1990 Paul Mayersberg film _The Last Samurai_. Though the blurb alludes to "a jungle filled with political intrigue, uneasy alliances, and murderous enemies at every turn," the story of the movie is actually quite simple (and prosaic): A middle-aged Japanese businessman named Endo (played by John Fujioka) and his assistant, both of whom have Samurai aspirations, travel to Africa in search of his ancestor, who went to bring Buddhism to Africa. He hires the services of down-at-the-heels Vietnam veteran pilot Johnny Congo (the redoubtable Lance Henriksen) and his girlfriend (Arabella Holzbog), and travels to the camp of an arms-merchant-cum-safari-host- cum-Islamic-missionary (John Saxon) and his wife (Lisa Eilbacher). They are all kidnapped by an African revolutionary guerilla with witch-doctor aspirations to conceal a pre-arranged arms deal, which subsequently falls through. Congo escapes, finds Endo's ancestor's sword, and comes back, guns blazing, to free the rest of them, and Endo kills the revolutionary with the sword. The end.
_The Last Samurai_ is one of those movies that is neither bad enough nor good enough to be enjoyable. It is merely _there_. The murky plot is filled with subtexts that are never elaborated, subplots that are never explained, and many scenes that make very little sense at all. The film is shot through with all the tired old "inscrutable Japanese Samurai" and zen stereotypes that are to be expected from an American movie. It is quite slow-paced, with only a bit of action near the end, and the final duel between Endo and the terrorist is quite anticlimactic.
Most of the acting is fair, with the possible exception of Congo's girlfriend. Lance Henriksen is his usual scene-chewing self, and is one of few possible reasons anyone might conceivably have for seeing this movie. The only other bright spot is the sweeping African scenery.
I paid $3 for this film, from the discount rack at Best Buy, and halfway suspect I overpaid for it. If you are in the mood for Samurai, read a Clavell novel or watch a Kurusawa movie. Skip _The Last Samurai_ unless you are a die-hard Henriksen fan.
Review rating: 4 out of 10
[This review is copyright 1999 by Christopher E. Meadows. Permission
granted for Usenet distribution and associated archival, including the
Internet Movie Database, but other distribution rights reserved to the
author.]
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