Why did Eddie Sakamura leave Connor and Smith to go fight his enemies when they arrived outside the safe house (which turned out to be a fatal choice)? They had just told him to stay where he would be safe, so he needlessly rushes headlong into danger alone and gets himself killed. That seems a bit futile.
shareIt's a point of pride and a show of respect. Connor was putting his family at risk to protect Eddie, and Eddie respected that. He couldn't let Connor's innocent child/mother die for him, so he went out to face his destiny.
shareConnor? That is Connory's character in the movie. Maybe you're thinking of Smith which is Snipes who had the child.
shareOops, you're right.
shareI agree with bikebryan. Eddie was honored that Snipes' character was risking his own life, and the life of his child and her carer, all to help him, especially after the two had met less than 48 hours ago.
So Eddie did what he thought was best, by facing his pursuers, so they'd leave Snipes' family alone. Reckless, definitely, but there was clearly a small chance he may have emerged triumphant. He was surely winning that fight, but was eventually overpowered due to too many opponents (that should be a note to anyone insane enough to believe those martial arts films where the expert beats up more than two opponents at once - adversaries don't just stand behind you and only attack when you turn to face them, thank you Steven Seagall and Chuck Norris).
I do wish that Eddie hadn't done that and survived, or that Snipes' character had reached him in time to help him. He was as charming as characters get ^_^
I'm surprised the guy lasted that long fighting those guys. It is a movie though, and I'm aware in movies, things can't be 100% accurate. But if it were reality, I'd say they've got the numbers but they can't fight for *beep* if they can't take one guy down in like five seconds.
I haven't seen it in awhile but one thing I noticed is that Eddie was fighting quite well, but as soon as he's opponents pulled out some Samurai swords, he started fighting terribly and ended up losing the fight. I guess he must've looked at the swords and panicked. I would. lol.
It's a shame that Smith didn't reach him in time. Yet I don't think him being quicker would've made a difference.
Wow, this post was painful to read...first of all, the entire reason Eddie went down to face Ishihara's goons was HONOUR!!!! plain and simple...it was freakin' HONOUR!!! In japanese traditional culture, the idea that Webb was sacrificing his own family's safety and his own reputation and life for Eddie, a man that he barely knew, it would have been a great dishonour to Eddie if he had not reciprocated by offering himself to protect Webb...something he could not have lived with...also, since Ishihara belonged to Nakamoto which was part of the Dairetsu competing with Eddie's father's Dairetsu, it would have been Eddie's responsibility to defend his family's honour against the man responsible...Ishihara...remember, this was a culture of people that believed in the greater glory of sacrifice and self-sacrifice...
"Absolute authority comes from God, absolute obedience comes from the Devil." -Adolph Hitler
Was it really about duty and honour? From his angry looks, strident gait and shouts at the guys, it looked to me like he just lost his temper. Saw the red mist, and lost his ability to assess the situation. Would his sense of honour lead him to walk into a situation that was very likely to get him killed? It's possible, but not probable. OK, he was a Japanese, but he was a businessman, not a Samurai or something.
sharePerhaps that's something you don't get...the angry look and harsh shouting don't always denote anger or seeing red...if you've ever heard the japanese language it's scary when they get angry....but it doesn't mean they have lost their faculties....and yes, I do think he would have gone into a situation he knew would have killed him...after all, he purposely left Webb and Connor and went straight to the fight...the way the Japanese were portrayed in this movie leaves you with the feeling that they were all followers of Bushido...so, yes, Eddie would have died for honour.
"Absolute authority comes from God, absolute obedience comes from the Devil." -Adolph Hitler
I think I do get it.. I accept that angry looks and harsh shouting may be part of a ritual precursor to a hostile physical encounter rather than genuine rage. But I think you're completely off base by saying that all the Japanese characters in this movie, particularly Eddie, were "followers of bushido". What is the evidence for this? Eddie was simply a playboy - a rich easygoing guy. We see him with hookers, singing karaoke, driving sports cars with adolescent enthusiasm and generally lounging around and smiling. He may be a good chap, but where is the evidence for his supposed "purity", i.e. devotion to bushido? We can assume that his success in life did not just fall into his lap while he was thinking about other things, like the way of the warrior. He had to be thinking about money.
Further, would a real-life follower of bushido (i.e. a feudal samurai) walk, without being ordered to, headlong into a situation he had no real chance of surviving let alone winning? The Hagakure was written about 200 years after the bushido heyday, and what it records about its OWN time, reflects very little of the suicidal bravery you impute from the present-day Japanese. Indeed, it states that men had turned into women, by that time. So the whole post-WW2 "bushido" construct seems highly dubious to me. Furthermore bushido by definition applies to warriors, and these guys were businessmen, whatever "warrior" pretensions they like to assume. Being an admirer of the Samurai, or even respecting one's own cultural heritage (as the Japanese undoubtedly do - some of them rightfully) does not make one a follower.
I think perhaps you're putting too much stock in Hollywood's ability to divine truth from fiction or fact from want. This entire movie is littered with Japanese cliches from beginning to end. Am I supposed to divine from this movie that all Japanese business men are karaoke singing jazz dancers with a penchant for drinking sake off of naked women? If so, I want to be damn japanese. It's not history that applies here. It's stereo-typed cliche. So in this instance, since it has nothing to do with history of fact, we're left to assume that's how the Japanese would feel. It's unfortunate that fact diving dickheads like you can come along and try frig up a good movie by quoting "fact and history" about samurai's. Hollywood isn't interested in fact. "Troy" was a perfect example and I can only hope that Brad Pitt dies slowly and horribly from some abstract, incurable disease while he diving through the seas of diseased down in Africa with Angelina for making that movie. Try and comprehend this...fact and history don't find there way into movies. Only cliches and racial assumptions. So, guess what? They were 20th century Samurai's and Hollywood has no place for fact whores.
"Absolute authority comes from God, absolute obedience comes from the Devil." -Adolph Hitler
*cough cough*
Eddie was raised in a family where his father was a high exec. His childhood would have contained much of what a young samurai's life would contain. Rather it was a sudden "cold shower" about honour and duty that woke him up from his "playboy ways" and got him to do "the right thing".
Damn, and I thought I was missing the point about the nihonjin!
Read about Genpei kassen, Heike monogatari! Nevermind, read about the Satsuma Rebellion, a little bit closer to "home".
How the F-word can you even pretend to know anything about japanese mentality when all you now is the title Hagakure. Even Tom Cruise F'ing gets it. Bushido has never, ever disappeared from the japanese mentality. No inspiration from the rest of the world can ever change that. They have crafted it into their whole society.
Go watch Lost in translation or something!
Kid!
eddie seemed a touch insane to me. i don't even think he knew what he was going to do until he did it.
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"