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The Last Samurai, 2003

The Last Samurai

English, Japanese, French

USA

Rating:7.8
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Profile of The Last Samurai

The mood of The Last Samurai is stylized, captivating, and exciting. The plot centers around samurai, battles, and culture clash. It is a period, war, and drama movie. Stylistically, The Last Samurai has a Hollywood tone and is gory. In approach, it is serious and realistic. It takes place, at least partly, in a battlezone. The Last Samurai is set in Japan. It happens in the 19th century. The movie is known for being a blockbuster and an award winner. Note that The Last Samurai includes strong violent content.

Summary of The Last Samurai

Edward Zwick directs this sumptuously designed, action-packed period epic that stars Tom Cruise as Captain Nathan Algren. Algren, a former Civil War hero, is adrift in 1870s San Francisco after the war, a lost soul struggling to stay afloat in a booze-soaked stupor. When he is recruited by the Japanese government to train the Emperor's army, he departs for the unknown shores of Japan and begins training the soldiers in American military tactics. But these skills are useless against a band of samurai rebels led by the proud warrior Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), and Algren is easily defeated. He is taken to a remote samurai village where he learns samurai warrior codes and ways of life, developing a deep bond with Katsumoto and sharing philosophical conversations with him. Caught between the feudal culture of the ancient samurai warriors and the encroachment of modern society, Algren is forced to choose between his own culture or Katsumoto's. The Last Samurai is lavish in its dramatic period costumes and intense performances, and will thrill fans of both historical drama and action films.

Details

Language: English, Japanese, French
Country: USA
Release date: 1 December 2003
Runtime: 154 min

Cast and Crew

Tom Cruise as Nathan Algren in The Last Samurai
Tom Cruise

as Nathan Algren

Timothy Spall as Simon Graham in The Last Samurai
Timothy Spall

as Simon Graham

Photos

Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai (2003)
Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai (2003)
Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai (2003)
Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai (2003)
Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai (2003)
Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai (2003)
Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai (2003)
Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai (2003)
The Last Samurai (2003)
The Last Samurai (2003)
Tom Cruise and Koyuki in The Last Samurai (2003)
Tom Cruise and Koyuki in The Last Samurai (2003)

Clips

The Last Samurai
The Last Samurai: Home Video
The Last Samurai
The Last Samurai: Theatrical

Critics Reviews

Time
A movie that demands our surrender -- to its energy, to its bold-stroke moviemaking, to its acting (particularly by Cruise and Watanabe, who blend musing and graceful muscularity) and, above all, to its romantic vision of a lost world.
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  • by: Richard Schickel
San Francisco Chronicle
Cruise's undeniable star voltage makes it all palatable, and the film is gorgeous to behold and even to listen to, from the rolling green hills to the galloping horses to the "Lohengrin"-like theme music on the sound track.
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  • by: Mick LaSalle

Users Reviews

sorry Tom Cruise, you're not a real samurai if you don't die with the rest of them.
  • 17.April.2010
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  • by: katkim619
  • katkim619 rated this movie0/10
I actually liked this movie, and probably for all the wrong reasons. I thought in all Ken Watanabe and Hiroyuki Sanada were excellent, and displayed the most emotion and passion in their roles. The movie in essence tries to portray the end of the...
  • 30.March.2009
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  • by: Parker in MN
  • Parker in MN rated this movie6/10Okay
Likely to see
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