There are shots of beautiful vistas and gratuitous gore. There are slow motion action sequences and parts that are just slow. Parts of the story are entirely believable and others are somewhat ridiculous. The most unfortunate part was casting Cruise in the role of Nathan Algren. The battle sequences are very large and impressive and the scenery is amazing and the costumes are outstanding but there just isn't enough in the film to make it good overall.

I could have lived without the love story (although, to be fair, it was surprisingly understated) and I didn't like that the plot followed the standard formula. Watanabe was great though, the battle scenes were painful to watch, and Cruise wasn't totally offensive. Since I'm a sucker for a lost cause, I liked the movie. The last half, anyway.