Overview

In the late 1800s, Japan has undergone a change to an age of modern advancement with trades from the United States and other western countries. The Emperor of Japan sensing the need to progress Japan’s economy to that of a modern economy in order to compete with other countries, decided to hire American advisors to help properly train his people to adapt to the modern age. One of these people is Captain Nathan Algren, a civil war veteran whose past action in the war haunts him. Nathan Algren is in charge of transforming the Japanese army from an army with swords and arrows to that of a modern army with guns and cannons. This change from the traditional way of life to that of a modern western age didn’t sit well with the Samurais, whose way of life is to dedicate themselves to defending the emperor and the country. With a new Japanese Imperial Army being created for the purpose of defending the Emperor and the country, a Samurai’s way of life was being phased out. Under the leadership of a Samurai warlord name Katsumoto, the Samurais began a rebellion and revolt against the changing economy striking at the heart of Japan where the impact of western influence is felt the most. Under the order of the Emperor, Captain Algren and his new regiment of Japan’s Imperial Army engaged with the Samurais is a battle for control of the railroads. The outcome resulted in total defeat of the new Imperial Army and the capture of Nathan Algren. However to Algren surprised, instead of being executed upon captured, he is taken to Katsumoto’s village to be held prisoner there throughout the fall and winter seasons. Katsumoto sense a kindred spirit within Algren and wishes to learn more about Algren and the ways of the modern world. During his seasons in captivity, Algren finds himself influenced by the traditional ways of the samurais and has come to admire and befriend his captors. When his days in captivity drew to a close and a new war campaign against the Samurais began, Algren finds himself at the center of an epic struggle and he must decide which of the two worlds will have his loyalty and heart, the traditional ways of the Samurais or the modern ways of the United States.


Good

Ok there’s a lot of good stuff I like about this movie. First is the way the story is told. We all know that modern technology is the way to go but yet here we can see why that even though modern technology is meant to improve our daily lives, it can also infringe on those that live their life base on the old way and may take their livelihood away. You still see it today as advancement in technology slowly phase out jobs where machines or computers can do jobs that workers used to do. Being a samurai is one’s job and life. If one was train as a samurai since the beginning of childhood and one was told your job is no longer needed then what do you do when you have no training in anything else? It’s a very complex story where if the samurais don’t adapt to the new way of life then their fate is to disappear. Since this is base on historical events, we pretty much know that eventually the age of the sword will end to make way for the age of the guns. Thanks to this movie, I have an understanding on what became of the samurais in Japan. How accurate is the story to the historical fact? I don’t really know since after all it’s still a movie. But thanks to this movie, we all have a better understanding and appreciation of the samurais and what became of them. This movie also boasts in my opinion an all star cast even if it’s made up of unknown actors. With the exception of Tom Cruise, all the other actors are experiencing The Last Samurai as their first big major Hollywood film role or their very first film acting role period. They do an exceptionally nice job in full filling their roles. The chemistry between the actors and actress is very nice and you can tell they like working with one another. I enjoyed each private scenes between the actors and their dialogue. It’s written very well. Every movie has to have a romance somewhere and this movie is no different. However I like to say how I enjoy the approach to this. The movie flirt us with hints of Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) and Taka (Koyuki) of having interests in one another but doesn’t go far into it. This shows that at least the writers seem to have some realistic respect for the dead as Taka is still a recent widower and Nathan is the man who made her that way. Most movies will have them making out within 15 minutes. As much as I want the two characters to come together, I like how their relationship is played out. The costumes and sceneries in the movie were design excellently. You actually get the sense that you’re in ancient Japan and getting a glimpse on what samurais are all about. The battle scenes are beautifully directed and choreograph. I’m a little disappointed in that there weren’t any samurais versus samurais epic battle scenes. The acting in the movie is great. Each actor played their character beautifully. A big thumbs up and credit to actor Masato Harada (Omura). He plays a mean politician. You just love to hate him in this movie. I believe that one of the main reasons why this movie is so good is due to all the actors involved in it. They just make this movie and events in the movie so believable. While the movie is base on historical events in terms of the samurais fight against the influence of the western world, these characters in the movie are fictional. But you really can’t tell if these characters were fiction or not. At times, I can’t even tell if this movie is base on real characters in real events, and that’s due to the director and the cast of the movie.

Bad

There are a few things in the movie in which I thought could’ve been done better or came off a little bit too over exaggerated. As I said earlier, I love the cast of the Last Samurai. But within the cast of the Last Samurai, only Tom Cruise (Nathan Algren) and Ken Watanabe (Katsumoto) got the most screen time. I guess this is somewhat normal since this is Tom Cruise’s movie and he’s the big star of the film and the movie is about the last samurai which is Ken Watanabe character in the film. However within the story itself, I would have like to see more on Taka, Katsumoto sister and Nobutada, Katsumoto son. Being a widow wife and woman in ancient Japan, I would have liked the story to show more on what life is like for Taka living under the rule of the samurais. In limited time we only see her as a quiet reserve person who doesn’t complain about anything and smile a lot. Nobutada from his first appearance in the film seem like a very friendly person that immediately wanted to be a friend of Nathan Algren. The story also flirts with us by giving us hints that Taka has feelings for Nathan Algren but never really did anything with it. Not to sound like a total fanboy much less a teenage girl but darn it, I wanted them to hook it up in the movie and be a couple. LOL. That’s my biggest complaint. All I get is a tiny little wimpy kiss between the two characters. What is up with that?! Sheesh. And who says I don’t have any romance in me. LOL.
I also wanted to see more scenes of friendship between Nobutada and Nathan of hanging around and being buddies with one another. There are other great characters in the movie that could have given more screen time as well. The Japanese Emperor is a good example. I would have loved to see more of him and what he does. Every scene he’s in, it’s a scene of sadness and helplessness. You just want to help the poor fellow make his decision on what to do. Just make you want to know a little more on why the Emperor is so helpless since he is suppose to be the Emperor after all. The only major flaw is that not all characters have enough screen time but again that’s kind of hard to do when you only have a two hour time frame to tell a story. The last thing that sort of annoyed me was that I didn’t like the ending too much. I guess I wasn’t happy with the outcome. But that’s not it. Having a sad ending isn’t the problem because even a sad ending can be a good ending. It’s the way the major battle sort of ended that left a bad taste for me. Now let me state this for a fact, Tom Cruise is my favorite actor, but near the end of the movie and you have a major epic battle where thousands of Japanese men and one white guy are charging at an even bigger army with guns and cannons pointing at them. Everyone dies except for the white guy. Come on, man. Let’s be a little realistic here. There’s no way would the one lone white guy be alive in the end. In a field of thousand of Japanese men, the white guy would be the first one to be shot at by the other army because he stands out like a sore thumb. I know it’s a movie but the idea that everyone in the battlefield dies except for the white guy is too far fetch for my taste. I also didn’t like how the status of Captain Nathan Algren was left in limbo. The movie tells us of three possible fates to Captain Nathan Algren but shows us one of the possible fates. I don’t like the idea of having to guess which fate he ended up with even though the movie shows the good fate where he ends up with the girl. I prefer an open and close ending.

Bonus

The DVD set comes in a two discs set. All the bonuses are feature on the second disc. The first disc does contain one feature which is Commentary by Edward Zwick. The second disc contains a History Channel documentary, a conversation with Edward Zwick and Tom Cruise, a Tom Cruise Warrior Journey, a Director’s Video Journal, an inside look into the how costume and stage designs were made, Deleted Scenes, and theatrical trailers. In all honesty the overall bonus presentation didn’t hold too much of my interests. The deleted scenes were too limited and weak. The History Channel documentary didn’t shred much light in regards to the time period of how the age of samurai ended. Features involving Edward Zwich and Tom Cruise were alright but aren’t something that you absolutely need to see. I watch about 90 minutes in total on the bonus package before I decided the rest wasn’t worth my time. It would be nice if they added some commentaries from the other cast members.

Final Analysis

I love this movie. I love the story, I love the cast, and I love the soundtrack.
This may not be a total action packed movie but the enjoyment of the movie feels just like one. I believe that everything from the story to the music blend together so well that it makes the movie a perfect masterpiece. In all honesty I can’t think of any better actors or actresses that can play the roles of these characters better. It’s amazing how the film makes us cheer for the samurais and their cause against the modern world but in reality in terms of history, the samurais were actually the bad guys. Remember that samurais are warriors that oppress women and chop off people’s head if anyone failed to do their biddings or bow down to them. This is why samurais feared the modern world because the modern world would take away their power. There’s a good side and a bad side to everything. The movie clearly focuses on the beauty in the ways of the samurai and I believe it does a fine job in that aspect. By the end of the movie, I’m pretty sure you’ll be thinking about wanting to join a samurai clan.

I'd just like to say that your review on this amazing movie was excellent. I couldn't agree more on what you have written here. There's just one thing though. Like how you said that Nathan Algren (AKA the White Guy) was the only man left on the battlefield, at the end of the movie. Wasn't he considered Samurai? I mean cause that would have made the ending of that last battle tie in better with the movie title, because he then would have been the last samurai.

How to say about this movie? It's beyond description to me. It's one of the top few fantastic movies in my list, the music is great, the people mostly spoke Japanese(One of my favourite areas), the scenes were just beautiful(though you watch it from a screen), the fight scenes were rather exciting/unique as well.

Just for your information, this movie is not being biased about how honorable/cultured the Japanese are. You can insult the movie for all I care but this movie will remain forever as a masterpiece to me.

Sadly... The final battle of the movie slaugthered the entire clan of samurais, leaving only Algren(American Samurai) behind. I really hope to know further details about the real/true ending, they just assumed that he returned to the girlT.T(I know its nice/romantic, but I would rather know about the truth)

Lastly, if you are all looking for a fantastic/unforgetable movie to watch, there's no need to look further. I highly recommend this movie, it deserves a million stars.

First I would like to say its an amazing movie. Also a very good review.

I agree with you on a lot of the good and bad parts. Especially when you said that Nobutada and Taka should of had a little more screen time.

I personally would of liked to of seen multiple battles and more of the ninjas. =)

I have seen this movie maybe four times. Still it doesent get boring. Great movie overall.

Humm, I find it a little farfetched. The movie that is. I won't necessarily point out why, but I did love the cast. Ken Watanabe is one of the most handsome men around.

It was an awesome movie as you said it. Cried like a bawling baby at the end. *eep*

This movie was amazing like so many have already said. The backdrops were beautiful, the musical score was fantastic, and great action. The musical score was excellent and made each scene more meaningful. The musical score was so good I bought the soundtrack. The Last Samurai is a really great movie, I liked the ending, and I watched this movie atleast a dozen times. One of my alltime favorite movie.

Sorry for a differentiated opinion but this movie was still a bit blunt. The storyline was good and all, but it needed something more than the emotion of just love and desire. Know what it needed? More fighting. What? 2 battles in the whole movie and a fight here and there. Nah, needs more. Tom Cruise pulled a good one out on this film, and I will admit it was rather enjoyable, but it was just an alright movie. 7.5/10
A 7.5/10 is very good coming from me.

I disagree Tyr I think that there was a right amount of fight scenes. There was one in the beginning, the attack on the village, and the last battle. Also they weren't your quick battles either. Then like 3 little fights in between. Having action in a movie is good, but too much of a good thing turns out bad.

I also really did enjoy the movie. It had both action and good drama. This is something that’s hard to find in movies now. The way the samurai’s were portrayed all strong and honorable was cool, I also can’t believe they added a samurai vs. ninja battle, that was totally unexpected and awesome. Yes I did get a little samurai obsession after watching this movie.

I’m glad I am not the only one that had a bad taste in my mouth with the ending. Its not that I wanted tom cruise to die, or I thought it was a bad ending. It’s just the ending was funny, him being able to take a gatling gun to the chest, and survive where all the others died.

PS: the movie was a bit long. It made me late for work, but it was all enjoyable. Now I await " The last farmer"

The Last Samurai is one of the few movies I care to watch again. About everything was perfect in my opinion.I give it about 4.5/5.0

Sorry, but I am in a total desagree with yur review.

From my own taste and my films experience, I found that this new blockbuster film was another low-life hollywoodian flate thing..This time, we have a imitation of japanese samurai films (Chambara). Tom cruise play badly as always but I should mention the good prestance of Ken Watanabe.. Honestly, if you seek to understand feudal Japan life guys ... then first there are great old books, or, great classics made in japan... Cuz,, are we talking about samurai ?!?

Every Akira Kurosawa films :

The 7 samurai
Yojimbo
Rashomon
Hidden Forteress
Kagemusha
Ran

...


Recently :


Takeshi Kitano : Zatoichi


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So, its was my own feeling about this film..

And its up to you guys to seek for the best pearls of cinema...

My own review point of Last Samurai (and last try of mister Cruise in chambara style.. I hope) :

Story : 5
Cast : 7
Actor play : 4
Sound : 6
Bonus : 7
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Overall : 5.8




Forever yurs :: Gilgamesh ::

I thought it was a great flick. I would not have chosen Tom Cruise as the lead, but whatever, he did alright. It had some good action scenes like "the fog battle," "The Ninja Attack," and "the final battle." A good overall movie I give it a 4/5

Meh, I suppose it's alright. I've seen many Samurai flicks that definitely top this, mostly JJ Sonny Chibi films and The Blind Swordsman series.

Tom Cruise did a great job of playing Maverick in Japan, a character he'll never seem to be able to escape.

However, the movie is decent enough... Even if it is an overproduced hollywood flick. 2.5/5 corpses in my eyes.

I have just 1 word for it ... fantastic...
it is the bestest movie that i have ever seen and i love the way of the samurai