This was an excellent movie. It was very entertaining. Ken Watanabe was really good, as were pretty much everyone else. The movie's tone was perfect for a period war drama. All the ingredients were there. But Tom Cruise wasn't right for the movie. I like Tom Cruise, he looks the part, and I wanted to be with him... and yet I wasn't. Cruise's take was a predictable "you have no idea what it's like to kill seven hundred babies with a salad fork, you insensitive prick" type thing. It was enough to make the movie work, but nothing beyond that; there wasn't a whole lot of risk-taking. Considering that people thought Tom Cruise had a shot at an Oscar nod (he didn't get it), I expected to see him more invested in the role than he was. I think Russell Crowe would have another Oscar if he were in Cruise's place.

Beyond that, I have a minor bone to pick with fictional American films based on other cultures. There were a couple moments, such as the last scenes with the Emperor, where I felt that the behavior of the Japanese characters fit the story more than their culture. I didn't feel like it was completely ridiculous or unacceptable... I just had the feeling that the filmmakers were glossing over important details. I have no evidence to support this, though, so I could easily be wrong.