2003 Directed by Edward Zwick
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.
Tom Cruise Ken Watanabe Timothy Spall Tony Goldwyn Hiroyuki Sanada Koyuki Shin Koyamada Billy Connolly Togo Igawa Shichinosuke Nakamura Masato Harada William Atherton Chad Lindberg Scott Wilson Ray Godshall Sr. Masashi Odate John Koyama Satoshi Nikaido Shintaro Wada Shun Sugata Sosuke Ikematsu Aoi Minato Seizô Fukumoto Shoji Yoshihara Kosaburo Nomura IV Takashi Noguchi Noguchi Takayuki Sven Toorvald Yuki Matsuzaki Show All…
Tom Cruise Edward Zwick Marshall Herskovitz Paula Wagner Scott Kroopf Tom Engelman Mitchell E. Dauterive Anne Bruning Kyoko Kageyama
Bob Beher Dino Dimuro Christopher Assells Mark P. Stoeckinger Nerses Gezalyan James Moriana Jeffrey Wilhoit Michael Kamper Ben Wilkins John Roesch Alan Rankin Andy Nelson Jon Title Alyson Dee Moore Anna Behlmer Frank Smathers Kerry Dean Williams Bruce Tanis Mary Jo Lang Jeff Wexler
Poslednji samuraj, Samurai, The Last Samurai: Bushidou, Ostatni Samuraj
Epic history and literature War and historical adventure Epic heroes historical, epic, battle, historic or fought war, soldiers, combat, fought or military martial arts, kung fu, choreography, cool or action-packed war, wwii, combat, military or duty political, democracy, documentary, president or propaganda Show All…
It's true: according to Wikipedia, Tom Cruise is indeed still the only samurai on record, and has been since 1877.
Very sound in its depiction of old Japanese customs, traditions & way of life, featuring an interesting story, convincingly performed by the cast, benefitting from impressive work by the crew, and steered by beautiful music from Hans Zimmer, The Last Samurai is a story of romanticism vs modernism, purity vs corruption, and a conflict of two different cultures.
Co-written & directed by Edward Zwick, his research of Japanese history, culture, customs, traditions & accent is commendable and the plot manages to be emotionally investing for the most part if not all the way. Camerawork is top-notch, both during the battle scenes and while capturing the westernisation of 19th century Japan. Pacing is steady throughout, and the film as a whole scores high in…
Same director, but this film manages to be the exact inverse of 'Glory', a film about a white man who bravely fights and dies to liberate others from a cruel and oppressive feudal social order, in this one a white man fights and *lives*--like an absolute coward--to preserve one. Despite Edward Zwick's bird-brained conception of the Samurai rebellion against the Meiji restoration as some kind of indigenous people's struggle, through a little thing I like to call "movie magic"--incredible sword duels, battle scenes, and Tom Cruise--this movie is a winner.
not dissimilar to the way cruise devotes himself to the principles of the samurai way, zwick has spent decades honing his craft and becoming a master of the art of the 3 star classic that is either your dads or some guy from your highschools favorite movie of all time by virtue of the fact they’ve seen it no less than 600 times on tv. here he takes a stab at one of those movies where a swagged out white guy travels to a foreign land and (faced with the horrors of the modern west) adopts their “weird” spiritual, noble customs and earns their respect by having the pure heart of an ancient hero. the result is an expensive historical…
That score... Absolutely insane. Hans Zimmer never fails to amaze me. I've always been a giant fan of his Batman and Pirates of the Caribbean score but I think this might be my new favourite.
"The Last Samurai" is a modern classic, a real people's champ. While critics dismissed him as "quite good", he left a lasting impression on the audience. And he is still underestimated and overlooked too often. I can not understand that! The story of an American military advisor in Japan at the end of the 19th century, who is arrested by the "enemies" and gets to know and love their culture, always hits the heart and also keeps on entertaining. The battles are enormous and brilliant, Tom Cruise is not only supported by the Japanese actors (above all Ken Watanabe and Hiroyuki Sanada), but is almost played against the wall by them and the long runtime never stretches. But the core…
Such a heart-touching movie, which never gets boring despite its long runtime.
The performances in this movie, especially by Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, are absolutely outstanding and the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer is perfect.
If you have not watched this movie already, I would highly suggest you do!
Really underrated!!
Cinematic Time Capsule
2003 Marathon - Film #141
”Because they come to destroy what I have come to love”
When the Samurai culture is threatened by modernized weapons and American marketing, it falls to Ken Watanabe and Hiroyuki Sanada to anchor a film as they lead a rebellion that’s steeped in tradition and honor. Along the way they also masterfully milk an enemy for some great insider information.
Fantastic filmmaking and incredible action set-pieces create a truly epic and enjoyable movie. I simply wish the film spent even more time and focus on the character and world of Ken Watanabe’s well-deserved Oscar nominated performance.
"I have introduced myself. You have introduced yourself. This is a very good conversation."
BONUS POINTS…
a film entirely devoid of subtext, tuned with a gorgeous hans zimmer score at a time when he actually put in the effort, loads of extras with a nice proportion of intimacy vs. scope, and cruise and watanabe have an adorably-chaste masculine chemistry. zwick is a terrible director and slathers this with a thick coating of dumb romanticism; but hey, i like dumb romanticism, and this is perfectly serviceable as a 2000s crowd pleaser. there were so many historical epics like this back then; audiences didn't know how lucky they were to have them, before franchises took over everything...
