Introduction

Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is a skilled soldier who served in the American Indian Wars. The time he spent on the battlefield has scarred him and he has become a bitter alcoholic that has no care in the world. However, when his former commanding officer approaches him with a job, Nathan initially doesn’t want to take it. However, after learning how much he would be paid, Nathan decides that he will give the job a shot.

The job that Nathan has been hired to do is train the newly created Imperial Japanese Army so that they can defeat the samurai rebellion that Japan is facing. Nathan feels that he is up to the task, but what he finds in Japan shocks him..

Ripe Apples

At the beginning of the film, Nathan is only doing his job for the money. Nathan did not have a good relationship with his old commander, so we see some tension there.

Everything changes for Nathan when he is captured by the Samurai. He begins to realize that they do not want to fight and actually wish to remain loyal to the Emperor. However, there are some disagreements between the Samurai and the Imperial Army. Nathan begins to help fight with the Samurai so that both groups can live in peace.

The leader of the Samurai, Katsumoto, will do anything to protect the Samurai way of life. He is seen sacrificing everything to do his best to serve his people. His son follows in his footsteps and does the same thing.

Rotten Apples

This film is rated R, and it is mostly for the violence that is seen in this film. There is a lot of blood that is seen in almost every scene. We see a few people’s heads get chopped off on or off screen. One person is shot repeatedly and is seen walking towards his attackers as he bleeds out.  One person is seen committing suicide with his own weapon, since he failed his mission. We see multiple sword fight scenes that involve cutting and stabbing. There are also a few battle scenes where many people are seen getting shot, stabbed, and run over with horses or hit with rocks. We hear about someone getting scalped and one character goes into detail about what that means. This film’s R rating is based mainly on the violent content, and therefore I would recommend viewers of this film to be at least 18 years old.

The adult content in this film is very minimal. We see a man with his shirt off a few times. A woman is seen in a hot spring, but nothing inappropriate is seen. We also hear a few very minor sexual references that are very rare in this film.

In a few scenes we see characters smoking and drinking. This is mostly seen in the beginning of the film. Nathan is an alcoholic for the first 20 minutes and is seen acting drunk.

The Japanese in this film treat the emperor as if he is a god in the flesh. This is mentioned a few times throughout the film. The Japanese also believe in karma and that is mentioned a few times as well.

The f bomb is heard once in this film, as is the h word. We hear 5 d words, 1 involving the Lord’s name. The Lord’s name is misused 5 or 6 times with one of the misuses being Jesus’ name. We hear a few s words and b words. Some of the words are heard in Japanese and seen on screen in subtitles.

Conclusion

Tom Cruise shines as Captain Nathan Algren. Outside of some of Tom Cruise’s more popular roles, I think that Tom Cruise did a pretty good job as Nathan in this film. The plot was very intriguing and exciting. The fighting scenes were well choreographed, and the overall ending was fitting for the film. While there was a lot of violence that contributed to making this film R-rated, I am glad that they did not include as much foul language as I originally would have expected for a R-rated film. If you like Japanese films, or action-adventure, this film may be for you. My only warning will be that there is a lot of blood and violence in this film. Otherwise, let me know your thoughts about the film in the comments!