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The Last Samurai (2003)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
5 December 2003 (USA) moreTagline:
In the face of an enemy, in the Heart of One Man, Lies the Soul of a Warrior.Plot:
An American military advisor embraces the Samurai culture he was hired to destroy after he is captured in battle. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 39 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(202 articles)
Gerard Butler Goes to War for First-Time Director Ralph Fiennes (From Manny the Movie Guy. 4 November 2009, 4:02 PM, PST)
Gerard Butler Cast in Ralph Fiennes' Shakespeare Film Coriolanus
(From FirstShowing.net. 4 November 2009, 10:30 AM, PST)
User Comments:
This bullet, or arrow?, missed its target more (884 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Ken Watanabe | ... | Katsumoto | |
| Tom Cruise | ... | Nathan Algren | |
| William Atherton | ... | Winchester Rep | |
| Chad Lindberg | ... | Winchester Rep Assistant | |
| Ray Godshall Sr. | ... | Convention Hall Attendee | |
| Billy Connolly | ... | Zebulon Gant | |
| Tony Goldwyn | ... | Colonel Bagley | |
| Masato Harada | ... | Omura | |
| Masashi Odate | ... | Omura's Companion | |
| John Koyama | ... | Omura's Bodyguard | |
| Timothy Spall | ... | Simon Graham | |
| Shichinosuke Nakamura | ... | Emperor Meiji | |
| Togo Igawa | ... | General Hasegawa | |
| Satoshi Nikaido | ... | N.C.O. | |
| Shintaro Wada | ... | Young Recruit |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for strong violence and battle sequences.Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
154 minCountry:
USAColour:
ColourAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreCertification:
Malaysia:18SG | Iceland:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | Mexico:B | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R13 | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #40226)Fun Stuff
Trivia:
First feature to use the new Kodak Vision2 500T 5218 film stock - the successor of the previous Vision 500T 5279. However, it was released later than Seabiscuit (2003) which uses the same film stock but at a later date. moreGoofs:
Factual errors: When the samurai are entering the town, a photographer is seen with a large format camera. On the matte screen, the scene is depicted in sepia-tinted black and white. It should be in full color, as in every camera or camera obscura. moreQuotes:
[first lines]Simon Graham: [narrating] They say Japan was made by a sword. They say the old gods dipped a coral blade into the ocean, and when they pulled it out four perfect drops fell back into the sea, and those drops became the islands of Japan. I say, Japan was made by a handful of brave men. Warriors, willing to give their lives for what seems to have become a forgotten word: honor.
more
Soundtrack:
Kagura-No-Netori moreFAQ
Is Omura fired as the emperor's adviser?more
more (884 total)
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The Last Samurai is a movie about the fascination of Americans for Japanese culture, more specifically Japanese heroism. But focusing on heroism alone dangerously narrows down the subject and approaching it from an American viewpoint warps and twists it into a failure. Before explaining why, here is a short summary of the plot.
American army captain Nathan Algren, played by Tom Cruise, is disillusioned after participating in gruesome slaughter of native American Indians. A friend of him convinces him to come to Japan to help strike down revolts of Japanese samurai, who oppose the new Meiji government's reforms. Soon he faces them, is beaten and captured, but samurai leader Katsumoto, played by Ken Watanabe, spares his life and patiently lets him experience the Japanese lifestyle, specifically bushido, the samurai warrior code. Algren is so gripped by them that he joins their side and helps them in their final efforts to plea and fight for their cause.
This could have have been a nice movie. All ingredients are there: A period of turmoil with great historical importance, a clash of cultures, heroic warriors and of course a solid budget. But the movie never succeeds in convincing. There are a number of reasons for that. First, the acting is mediocre. Nobody really flunks, but never do you see one of them really being their character, instead of pretending to. Secondly, the plot follows a very predictable Hollywood path, never surprising, increasingly boring. The only surprise is that Algren manages to get into a romance with a Japanese lady, which is only surprising because you would not expect the writers to insert such a standard thing into a story that does not suit it at all. Thirdly, the sparse action scenes are shot with an overload of pomp and drama, similar to Mel Gibson - Braveheart / Peter Jackson - Lord of the Rings style, with long drawn out views of heroes dying heroically, or should I say refusing to die for minutes on end? Especially the final battle is pathetically overdone and suggest that the only purpose of the samurai was to die with honor. Did anyone ever consider that samurai also lived lives? Some people have compared this Edward Zwick - Tom Cruise combo product to the works of Akira Kurosawa, who seems to be their own hero. My advice: If you want to see a good movie about Japanese samurai, go watch movies made by the Japanese themselves. For instance, the works of aforementioned Akira Kurosawa, who could have taught Zwick and Cruise some moves.