'Tis the season to rehash. Dead Poet's Society begot Mona Lisa Smile, Glitter somehow begot Honey and this past weekend Dances with Wolves begot The Last Samurai.

However, the first four words out of my mouth after I saw the movie were rather promising: "Well, it didn't suck."

And it didn't. Really.

The Last Samurai plays it rather safe and pretty much just shows us what we've seen before in both a dramatic and technical sense.

Tom Cruise plays Nathan Algren, an alcoholic war veteran in the 1870s whose life has been relegated to a commercial whore for an arms manufacturer.

At the film's start he is approached to train Japanese soldiers who are being prepared to dispose of the last remnants of samurai who refuse to accept the country's gradual move toward Westernization.

Love him or hate him, Cruise is a stellar actor, and he shows that here. Sure, there are plenty of "look at me, I'm an attractive Hollywood pretty boy" moments where he simply stoically stares off into space, making for heart throb close-ups that belong on teenie boppers' walls. But overall, the film is well shot with beautiful panoramas of the Japanese landscape and pre-industrial cities (despite the fact that much of the film was shot in New Zealand).

Algren's character is surprisingly well developed. His alcoholism and depression are well motivated and work with his reasons for taking the job in Japan despite his seeming hatred for those working above him.

Once in Japan, Algren does what he can for the ill-prepared troops, but when they engage in their first battle, they are utterly vanquished by the far superior samurai despite the guns-versus-swords advantage. Algren is taken hostage and brought to the samurai's leader, Katsumoto.

Katsumoto is played by low-key Japanese actor Ken Watanabe with surprising confidence and serenity. His interactions with Cruise are entertaining as well as believable, and as the plot moves forward we feel the bond between them grow.

From here on out, it's pretty much downhill. Unsurprisingly, Algren spends time in the samurai village learning their culture as well as developing skills as a samurai warrior. Months pass and when he finally gains the opportunity to return home, he relinquishes his former life to remain with the samurai for a last stand against the new guard. If you consider that a spoiler, you obviously haven't seen the trailers, which spoil every narrative element save the last 15 minutes of the film.

The film certainly misses a few opportunities to soar in its final act. It dives in as a seemingly poignant finale but comes up with a trite and extremely implausible ending.

The cinematography is top notch from beginning to end, yet the repetitive slow motion gets tired by the climax.

Even teenie boppers can only take so much of a slow-moving, grimacing Tom Cruise. Mix in a romance element with potential, but unfortunately no chemistry, and you've got a rather bland second half.

Ultimately, The Last Samurai is kind of like that trophy date from your last formal: better seen and not heard.