The post-Gladiator boom saw the historical epic spend a brief stint in the spotlight as one of the industry’s most popular genres, in terms of quantity at least. An alarming number of them failed to catch fire with either critics or paying customers, which has left The Last Samurai on the outside looking in to a certain extent.
Of course, Tom Cruise’s foray into the past ended up as the third highest-grossing release of the Golden Age – with only the aforementioned Gladiator and Troy earning more at the box office – but a 66 percent Rotten Tomatoes approval rating doesn’t seem to jive the film’s lasting reputation as one of the best the medium has had to offer since the dawn of the 21st Century.
That being said, the controversy and backlash to greet a storyline that was criticized by many to be perpetuating the “white savior” narrative no doubt had something to do with it, even if those claims were shot down by Academy Award-nominated star Ken Watanabe, who countered that The Last Samurai had been huge for Hollywood in terms of increasing Japanese representation.
Regardless of which side of the fence you fall on, it can’t be denied that director Ed Zwick crafts some truly jaw-dropping set pieces, with Cruise delivering one of his most underrated performances, even if it did land only him a Golden Globe nod in the face of Oscar buzz.
20 years on from its release and the sweeping tale of inevitable change has been taking the fight to the opposition on streaming, too, with FlixPatrol outing The Last Samurai as one of the top-viewed features on the iTunes worldwide rankings this week.