The Last Samurai

2003 154 min ★ 7.6 Drama, Action, War

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.

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Cast

Tom Cruise

Nathan Algren

Ken Watanabe

Moritsugu Katsumoto

Timothy Spall

Simon Graham

Tony Goldwyn

Col. Benjamin Bagley

Hiroyuki Sanada

Ujio

Koyuki

Taka

Shin Koyamada

Nobutada

Billy Connolly

Zebulon Gant

Togo Igawa

General Hasegawa

Shichinosuke Nakamura

Emperor Meiji

Details

Director

Edward Zwick

Screenplay

John Logan

Tagline

"In the face of an enemy, in the heart of one man, lies the soul of a warrior."

Status

Released

Original Language

EN

Budget

$140,000,000

Revenue

$456,800,000

Production

Radar Pictures, Bedford Falls Productions, Cruise/Wagner Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures

Reviews

T

TopKek

November 10, 2016

Edward Zwick's "The Last Samurai" is about two warriors whose cultures make them aliens, but whose values make them comrades. The battle scenes are stirring and elegantly mounted, but they are less about who wins than about what can be proven by dying. Beautifully designed, intelligently written, acted with conviction, it's an uncommonly thoughtful epic. Its power is compromised only by an ending ...

R

r96sk

August 18, 2020

★ 8/10

Recommended. <em>'The Last Samurai'</em> features some very cool and entertaining battle sequences, which are shot excellently. The premise itself is attracting, it's acted out astutely by the noteworthy cast list. It probably lasts too long, but I never truly got a feeling of it dragging out though. Tom Cruise is fantastic as Capt. Nathan Algren. It's no secret or surprise as we all know th...

C

CinemaSerf

September 3, 2023

★ 7/10

"Nathan Algren" (Tom Cruise) is a disenchanted, alcoholic Captain who, post American Civil War, is offered the chance of a fresh, lucrative, start in Japan training some raw recruits to form the basis a standing Imperial Army. He arrives and is presented to the young, forward-looking but somewhat intimidated Meiji Emperor and it subsequently becomes clear that his purpose is primarily to assist Ôm...