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The Last Samurai Play Trailer

The Last Samurai (2003)

tomatometer

65

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 215
Fresh: 140 | Rotten: 75

With high production values and thrilling battle scenes, The Last Samurai is a satisfying epic.

55

Average Rating: 5.9/10
Critic Reviews: 44
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 20

With high production values and thrilling battle scenes, The Last Samurai is a satisfying epic.

audience

82

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 356,931

My Rating

Movie Info

Edward Zwick returned to the director's chair for the first time since 1998's The Siege with this sweeping period drama set in 19th-century Japan. After centuries of relying on hired samurai for national defense, the Japanese monarchy has decided to do away with the warriors in favor of a more contemporary military. Tom Cruise stars as Nathan Algren, a veteran of the U.S. Civil War who is hired by the Emperor Meiji to train an army capable of wiping out the samurai. But when Algren is captured

R,

Drama, Action & Adventure

Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick, John Logan

May 4, 2004

$111.1M

Warner Bros. Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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The Last Samurai Trailer & Photos

Critic Reviews for The Last Samurai

All Critics (221) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (147) | Rotten (76) | DVD (40)

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.

August 25, 2008 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Competently mounted in its studiedly immersive, elongated way, Zwick's earnest costume epic dresses a knee-jerk, reactionary sensibility in exotic garb.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment (1)
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

August 7, 2004 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comment (1)
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

December 23, 2003 Full Review Source: Variety | Comments (8)
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There are pleasures to be had in the handsome, heroic The Last Samurai. But they're all on the surface.

December 16, 2003
David Ansen
Newsweek
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The script lays on hokey narration and bombastic dialogue.

December 12, 2003 | Comment (1)
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

does honor traditional Japanese culture and ideals and make them accessible to a wider audience

May 14, 2012 Full Review Source: Old School Reviews
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews Source: Old School Reviews

Outstanding action and performance; lots of blood.

December 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media

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.

April 18, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

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.

September 24, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comments (4)
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

It's a film at war with itself. Worse, it's a mixed bag of carefully packaged entertainment, with little room for spontaneity or surprise.

August 5, 2007 Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | Comments (2)
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Cruise is wasted on this American samurai tale. The movie is pretty to look at but lacks substance or intrigue.

August 8, 2006 Full Review Source: Cinema Sight
Wesley Lovell
Cinema Sight

...if you haven't seen high definition before, it can be mighty impressive. (HD-DVD Edition)

April 17, 2006 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
John J. Puccio
Movie Metropolis

As brisk as it is rich, The Last Samurai is much more fun than a mere history lesson.

April 1, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Will Lawrence
Empire Magazine

Zwick has an ace up his sleeve, in addition to all the glorious scenery and pulse-pounding battles, and that's Ken Watanabe.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Chris Barsanti
Film Threat

It's Zwick who fails to take care of business here.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comments (7)
Rick Kisonak
Film Threat

A harrowing tale of honor, simple beauty, self-discovery, and ferocious conviction.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Mark Sells
Film Threat

Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai isn't an awful movie, but it is a dull and plodding epic that's rife with the usual Hollywood cliches.

March 5, 2005 Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic
View all critic reviews (221)

Audience Reviews for The Last Samurai

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Almost 10 years passed between my first attempt at watching this movie and my second, and while I had rated it a 2.5 the first time around (after passing out, late at night, unwilling to invest in it), the problem wasn't the movie - it was me. I think I, like a lot of viewers, was ready to hate this film simply because Tom Cruise isn't Japanese; call it the "But I don't get it, how in the heck could HE be a Samurai!?" effect. What it is, though, is a historical epic about an American who gets a glimpse into a changing Japan. It's well shot, decently paced, and superbly choreographed - with the exception of one WWE-style body slam in the battle scene - and in the end, the only knock against it is that the premise seems rather flimsy. There's this thing called "the willing suspension of disbelief" that all art requires, though; it's not a documentary, nor was it meant to be, and if you're still hung up on factual accuracy, just watch it for Ken Watanabe's Oscar-nominated (Oscar-worthy!) supporting performance. It's basically just "Dances With Wolves: Japan," but some of us call this sort of movie "entertaining popular film." I think it's been horribly misjudged... I kind of loved it.
April 16, 2007
danperry17
Daniel Perry

Super Reviewer

Its Hollywood romanticism of culture we killed at its best, with Cruise as the protagonist suddenly dubious as to which side is the right side (see:"Dances With Wolves"). Not a total waste of time, altho I wished (as I do in these films) for more time learning about the natives before they are shown up by the I'm-only-just-learning-this-stuff-but-I'm-already-better-than-you Anglo (see:"Avatar", see:"Tarzan") star.
July 16, 2007
UniversalDreamer
Universal Dreamer

Super Reviewer

The Last Samurai Quotes

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    1. Nathan Algren: What does it say?
    2. Katsumoto: I belong to the warrior in whom the old ways have joined the new.
    – Submitted by Effi L (2 months ago)
    1. Katsumoto: Life in every breath. That is the way of the warrior. That is Bushido!
    2. Nathan Algren: Hai.
    – Submitted by Effi L (2 months ago)
    1. Katsumoto: When I took these, you were my enemy.
    – Submitted by Effi L (2 months ago)
    1. Katsumoto: You believe a man can change his destiny?
    2. Nathan Algren: l think a man does what he can until his destiny is revealed to him.
    – Submitted by Nandu J (3 months ago)
    1. Taka: Sooo kind and caring....beautiful..
    – Submitted by Anikethan H (13 months ago)
    1. Katsumoto: You believe a man can change his destiny?
    2. Nathan Algren: I think a man does what he can, until his destiny is revealed.
    – Submitted by Nusfish K (15 months ago)

Discussion Forum

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Topic Last Post Replies
Why the low percentage? 7 days ago 0

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