Poster © Warner Bros. Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction & Drama
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 34 mins
ReleasedDecember 5, 2003
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorEdward Zwick
StarringTom Cruise, Timothy Spall, Ken Watanabe
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The Last Samurai (2003)
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| The Last Samurai's Details | |
| Genre | Action & Drama |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 11/20/2003 (Tokyo); 12/05/2003 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 34 mins |
| Budget | $140M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Japanese |
| The Last Samurai's Interests | |
| General | Cherry blossoms, armor, wooden practice swords, journals, mountain villages in the snow. |
| Music | Hans Zimmer. Taiko drums, slow strings, all the feelings. |
| Movies | Dances with Wolves (1990). Another soldier, another culture, another journal. |
| Television | Shōgun. Hiroyuki Sanada again, this time running the whole show. |
| Heroes | Katsumoto. Warrior, poet, serious student of cherry blossoms. |
| The Last Samurai's Crew | |
| Director | Edward Zwick |
| Writers | John Logan, Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz, Vincent Ward (story) |
| Producers | Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick, Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner, Scott Kroopf, Tom Engelman |
| Cinematography | John Toll |
| Music | Hans Zimmer |
| Edited By | Steven Rosenblum, Victor Dubois |
| Production | Warner Bros. Pictures, Radar Pictures, The Bedford Falls Company, Cruise/Wagner Productions, Samurai Pictures, LLC |
| Distributed By | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Tom Cruise picks up Japanese, sword fighting and inner peace in one winter, and the movie expects you to just nod along. That’s the big stretch. It’s a story about Japan changing forever, told through an American captain who gets the arc, the redemption and the poster, while the real heart of the film belongs to Ken Watanabe. His Katsumoto is calm, funny and sad all at once, and every scene he’s in feels like it’s about something bigger than one guy’s guilt. Hiroyuki Sanada as Ujio, the samurai who can’t stand Algren, is the best kind of grumpy. Edward Zwick shoots the misty forest fight and the mountain village like paintings, and the big battles are clear and heavy. At 154 minutes it’s long. It made $454.6 million worldwide on a reported $140 million budget. A 6.5 because it looks gorgeous and means well, but it keeps handing a story that isn’t his to the guy with top billing. $4,447 says you try a sword move with a broom this week and take out a lamp.
What works: Ken Watanabe’s Katsumoto, Hiroyuki Sanada’s grumpy Ujio, and battle scenes that are big, clear and beautifully shot.
What doesn’t: A story about Japan’s samurai keeps centering an American outsider, and his speedy transformation is hard to buy.
Who it’s for: Fans of big, old-fashioned historical epics who want a little history and a lot of Ken Watanabe.
Spoilers
Katsumoto’s samurai make a last charge against the new army’s guns and are cut down, and Katsumoto dies with Algren beside him. Algren survives, hands Katsumoto’s sword to the Emperor, who turns down the American deal, and the film hints that Algren goes back to Taka’s village.
It's 1876, and Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is a Civil War veteran who can't shake what he saw and did in the wars against Native Americans. Japan's modernizing government hires him to train its brand-new conscript army against a samurai rebellion led by Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe). His recruits are nowhere near ready. After a battle in a misty forest goes badly, Algren is taken prisoner and spends a winter in Katsumoto's mountain village, in the home of Taka (Koyuki). Slowly he starts learning the language, the sword and the code. Edward Zwick directs. One hundred fifty-four minutes, one long winter.
Anyone who wants to learn patience the hard way. Bring a wooden practice sword.
| Tom Cruise | Captain Nathan Algren |
| Ken Watanabe | the Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu |
| Koyuki | Katsumoto Taka |
| Timothy Spall | Simon Graham |
| Shin Koyamada | Katsumoto Nobutada |
| Tony Goldwyn | Colonel Bagley |
| Masato Harada | Omura |
| Shichinosuke Nakamura | Emperor Meiji |
| Hiroyuki Sanada | Ujio |
| Seizo Fukumoto | Silent Samurai |
| Billy Connolly | Sergeant Zebulon Gant |
| Shun Sugata | Nakao |
| Togo Igawa | General Hasegawa |
| William Atherton | Mr. McCabe |
| Scott Wilson | Ambassador Swanbeck |
| Chad Lindberg | Winchester Rep Assistant |