Genre: Action, Adventure, War, Drama, Epic, Period Piece, Ninjas, Martial Arts, Military, Gore, Revenge, Murder, Love, Vampires, Monsters, Cult Classic
Tagline: In the face on an enemy, in the Heart of One Man, Lies the Soul of a Warrior.
Plot: Captain Nathan Algren (TOM CRUISE) is a man adrift. The battles he once fought now seem distant and futile. Once he risked his life for honor and country, but, in the years since the Civil War, the world has changed. Pragmatism has replaced courage, self-interest has taken the place of sacrifice and honor is nowhere to be found - especially out West where his role in the Indian Campaigns ended in disillusionment and sorrow.Somewhere on the unforgiving plains near the banks of the Washita River, Algren lost his soul. A universe away, another soldier sees his way of life about to disintegrate. He is Katsumoto (KEN WATANABE), the last leader of an ancient line of warriors, the venerated Samurai, who dedicated their lives to serving emperor and country. Just as the modern way encroached upon the American West, cornering and condemning the Native American, it also engulfed traditional Japan. The telegraph lines and railroads that brought progress now threaten those values and codes by which the Samurai have lived and died for centuries. But Katsumoto will not go without a fight. The paths of these two warriors converge when the young Emperor of Japan, wooed by American interests who covet the growing Japanese market, hires Algren to train Japan's first modern, conscript
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 This is Old Hollywood meets Akira Kurosawa, with nods to John Ford, Rudyard Kipling and "Braveheart." Cruise isn't horribly miscast, a la Tony Curtis in "The Son of Ali Baba" or John Wayne as Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror," but he doesn't miss by far.  --Jack Mathews (New York Daily News)
Although the story and Tom Cruise's performance lack punch, The Last Samurai makes up for its shortcomings in its grand scope, immersing the audience in another time and re-creating the ancient world of the Japanese samurai. --Kit Bowen (Hollywood.com)
The Last Samurai is 144 minutes of pure story - the kind of powerful mix of epic battle and human interest that so rarely shows up on movie screens these days.  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
Tom Cruise learns about honor, twirls those pointy sticks with the poise of a drum majorette, and seeks spiritual enlightenment in this deadly boring would-be epic.--Stephanie Zacharek (Salon)
Beautifully designed, intelligently written, acted with conviction, it's an uncommonly thoughtful epic. Its power is compromised only by an ending that sheepishly backs away from what the film is really about. --Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
under its beauty, its lush production values and its superficial spell of enchantment, the basic product feels lame and thin, wan and stale. It's wannabe-ism on a multimillion-dollar scale, with an icon of Japanese culture somehow crudely penetrated by an interloper and turned inside out.--Stephen Hunter (Washington Post)
All the parts that make up a great epic are on display in “The Last Samurai,” including the obscenely, needlessly long running time. But it just doesn’t mix together acceptably, leaving all the combat, romance, enthusiasm, and history one long, faintly uninspiring experience. C--Brian Orndorf (FilmJerk.com)
The screenplay's cliches are rendered as effectively as possible. Tom Cruise is just fine. The music by Hans Zimmer is lushly beautiful.  --Ron Weiskind (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
There are slow spots, but the action-less scenes are often accompanied by entertaining humor and breathtaking scenery. "The Last Samurai" is a well-made action movie and its strong message makes it that much more appealing. 9/10--Scott Spicciati (Movie-Vault.com)
Though The Last Samurai is far from excellent, there are a lot of elements found within that warrant a recommendation. The performances, the incredible set design...it's all very impressive, but never quite adds up to a story that's particularly involving. --David Nusair (Reel Film Reviews)
It features action and drama, with well timed humour intermittently, that all comes together to produce what I will happily call the film of the year.  --Carl Lazarevic (MovieWeb)
The Last Samurai is an epic action film that has a heart and a brain. There is intelligence, emotion, humor, and style. It slows down to let us connect with its characters, and then it throws those characters into a visual orgy of blood and carnage. The movie conveys the strength of the Samurai and the honor they live by, and the beauty of the ancient Japanese culture. Everything about this film is beautiful and I would go as far as to rank it one of the year's best films. --Joshua 'Clark' Bertram (MovieWeb)
Amazing performances color the rich and mostly accurate portrayal of the last days of the Samurai. For a movie of paradoxes, it leaves one without a doubt in their mind of the strength and beauty of this culture.  --Derek May (MovieWeb)
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| Written by |
John Logan
The Aviator, Any Given Sunday, Star Trek: Nemesis |
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| Cast |
Tom Cruise
War of the Worlds, Minority Report, Magnolia |
 | Chad Lindberg
The Fast and the Furious, October Sky, Mercury Rising |
 | Billy Connolly
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Boondock Saints, Indecent Proposal |
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 | Timothy Spall
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Vanilla Sky, Chicken Run |
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[more] |
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| Music By |
Hans Zimmer
Gladiator, Batman Begins, As Good as It Gets |
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It's Dances With Wolves meets oriental classic The Seven Samurai, with the Cruiser forced to choose between his mercenary masters and the peculiar people who take him prisoner.  --Nev Pierce (BBC Films)
“The Last Samurai” is as uninspired and superficial as it gets, with pointless narration that spells out every little thought and emotion and a Hans Zimmer score that’s good in itself but is laid thick enough to drive one nuts.  --Kevin N. Laforest (Montreal Film Journal)
Great to look at and respectful of its subject matter, this is an epic with excitement, brains and heart. 85/100--Brian Webster (Apollo Guide)
The film manages to entertain, but it also tells a tale of how the old school mentality of truth, honor and respect have gone out the window, only to be replaced by the dehumanization effects of technology, the arms race and the segregation of the world community. 9/10--'JoBlo' (JoBlo.com)
A lot better than both the trailer and the Dances With Wolves Meets Braveheart label would have you believe, this is well-acted, with a decent script and superb fight sequences. --Matthew Turner (ViewLondon)
'The Last Samurai' could well be to Japan what Braveheart was to Scotland. Both are big, blustering, battlefield epics, set within genuine historical events, but at the same time contorting that history almost beyond recognition in order to meet the demands of Hollywood. 7/10--Gary Panton (Movie Gazette)
This is a big movie, with big themes and bigger-than-life characters. The battle scenes are not only spectacular, they are also emotional.--Paul Clinton (CNN Showbiz)
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