Product Details

• Actors: Lance Henriksen, Henry Cele, John Saxon, Duncan Regehr, Lisa Eilbacher
• Directors: Paul Mayersberg
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Organic Pictures
• VHS Release Date: May 22, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630352110X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #340,142 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars INTERESTING PREMISE, INTERESTING CAST, WEAK EXECUTION, March 3, 2001

By 

Zorikh Lequidre "Zorikh" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Samurai [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A Japanese gazillionaire (John Fujioka) believes that a samurai ancestor of his went to Africa to spread Buddhism and that his spirit is still alive, so he goes there to find him. He goes on a safari with another gazillionaire, an Arab who sort of runs the country (John Saxon doing a Maximillian Schell/Omar Sharif impersonation). He hires a borderline nutcase Vientam veteran mercenary (Lance Henrickson) as a helicopter pilot. Each of these men has a partner, For the Japanese, it is his loyal assistant; for the Arab, it is his beautiful but slowly dying American wife; for the American, it his young English girlfriend. They are joined by a former fellow soldier of the American.

There is some betrayal involving the selling of weapons to a rebel General (Henry Cele, "Shaka Zulu"), some surface discussion of the meaning of honor, and a lot of African countryside. The Japanese keeps seeing images of his ancestor. The General is played almost the same as the actor had played Shaka. The American has 'Nam flashbacks.

There is a kendo sequence on a beach at the top of the film that is some of the most realistic swordfighting I've seen in a movie. The film ends with a more action, but certain flaws in continuity and film making make it hard to accept what's happening.

The end of the film is supposed to be a resolution of the various issues that the characters had regarding honor, but the somehow the ambitiousness of the message is outweighed by the weakness of the film making. The script is a sparse, depending on brief profound statements. Everybody, it seems, has a brief profound, revealing, statement. The camera angles chosen for certain juxtaposed shots don't really work; make it difficult to follow the action. There are a few moments in the action where one can say "that's stupid. Why didn't he just..."

If the Japanese Martial Arts, discussions of honor, ancestral spirits, and African revolutions don't interest you, subtract a star or two. Otherwise, this is interesting to have seen once.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring. Uninspired lackluster script. Little action or suspense., May 3, 2009

By 

tncdel "tncdel" (New Castle, Delaware) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Samurai [DVD] (1989) (DVD)

For the first fifteen minutes or so I thought maybe the story was setting up to unfold a good storyline and action would start jumping off. But it gradually dawned on me that the story was just going to muddle on through at the same boring pace, except for a minute or two near the end, which, by then was anti-climactic.

Do yourself a favor, by buying something else..

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I'm still not sure what this film is about., July 11, 2001

By 

Tracy Rowan "dargelos" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Last Samurai [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Oh boy. I put this film in the "Can-I-have-another-hit-off- that-doobie?" category at Joe's Haus of Weird Film. It aspires to art. It is full of surreal images and inexplicable conversations. It's a Zen movie. You have simply to be, the film has simply to be. All will be revealed if your make of your mind a blank slate. Not.

Japanese businessman goes in search of his ancestor and gets caught in the middle of a revolution in Africa. Huh? No, really. That's what it's about. I think. I'm still not certain. Bottom line here is that if you try to take this puppy too seriously, you're doomed. I suggest that you put your critical faculties on hold and watch it as a nice bite of mind candy.