Capt. Nathan Algren finds himself unexpectedly affected by his encounters with the Samurai, which places him at the center of a struggle between two eras and two worlds.
26 September 1946, Tokyo, Japan
20 May 1960, Los Angeles, California, USA
25 May 1976, Los Angeles, California, USA
30 July 1947, Orange, Connecticut, USA
1 November 1976, Mount Vernon, Washington, USA
10 March 1982, Okayama, Japan
29 March 1942, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
17 February 1955, Yamanashi, Japan
21 October 1959, Uonuma, Japan
1966, Lynwood, California, USA
May 14, 2012
does honor traditional Japanese culture and ideals and make them accessible to a wider audienceAugust 07, 2004
The Last Samurai is an idyll in which the savageries of existence are transcended by spiritual devotion. That's a beautiful dream, and it gives the film a deep pleasingness, but the fullness of life and its blackest ambiguities are sacrificed.December 23, 2003
Disappointingly content to recycle familiar attitudes about the nobility of ancient cultures, Western despoilment of them, liberal historical guilt, the unrestrainable greed of capitalists and the irreducible primacy of Hollywood movie stars.August 25, 2008
It's easy to stand back and wax ironic about The Last Samurai. But it's not all that difficult to succumb to its full-spirited romanticism either.December 16, 2003
There are pleasures to be had in the handsome, heroic The Last Samurai. But they're all on the surface.April 18, 2009
More than anything else, "The Last Samurai" is the current Tom Cruise vehicle, and the actor's capacity to wrestle the story to his own demands is an impressive testament to his multifaceted perfectionist skills.September 24, 2007
The real point of the film seems to be the poster image of a battle-ready Tom Cruise waving a sword and all decked out in gleaming red-and-black samurai armor.April 29, 2009
One of the best films of 2003.December 28, 2010
Outstanding action and performance; lots of blood.June 24, 2006
Competently mounted in its studiedly immersive, elongated way, Zwick's earnest costume epic dresses a knee-jerk, reactionary sensibility in exotic garb.December 12, 2003
The script lays on hokey narration and bombastic dialogue.