Rating: 
Summary: It just can't be any better
Review: The guys wrote a lot of good stuff in other reviews and i'm not gonna add any more except my HIGH appreciation and recommendations to this movie. I watched twice in the cinema, and finally i go the DVD and watched it again.To me, this is the best movie for Tom Cruise. And it will be a while till he can do something that is better than this one. Again, This is PERFECT. It deserves the 5 stars without hesitating. regards
Rating: 
Summary: Dances with Samurais
Review: Edward Zwick delivers us a regurgitated version of "Dances With Wolves" only this time with Japanese culture instead of Indians. The story line is very much like "Dances With Wolves" in the way that Tom Cruise makes a transformation to the "Bad Guys" and becomes a "Good Guy" in return as he joins them. The direction is poetic and confident. Cruise is serviceable, but not memorable. The real steal in the film is the acting by Ken Watanabe. I would recommend it only for people who have hard time falling asleep...put it in your DVD player and you'll be out like light in 15 minutes.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Samurai - An exceptional epic film!
Review: As epic movies go, "The Last Samurai" is a superb one despite any historical inaccuracies which is what the History Channel is for. All of the big named male actors such as Mel Gibson and Russell Crowe had their epic war movies and Tom Cruise was sorely due for one and in this movie he chose very well. Over the years, like many super stars, Tom Cruise has chosen some extremely good roles and at the other end of the spectrum he's done some very poor movies but with "The Last Samurai," the part couldn't have been better for him as it was supremely suited to his talents. Along with the superior performance given by Tom Cruise, his co-actors in Timothy Spall, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn, Hiroyuki Sanada and Koyuki and so many others added greatly to the overall feel of the movie through their performances which were all of great depth and feeling. Over the years, Edward Zwick has directed some of the finest movies to ever grace the silver screen such as "Glory" and "Legends of the Fall" and "The Last Samurai" serves well to his legacy by being added to his library of exceptional films. Additional credit goes to Hans Zimmer for the score for this outstanding film. The Premise: Civil War hero Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) has seen all too well the horrors of war and the policies of the American government in both dealing with soldiers of the south and especially Native Americans. He is essentially forced into going to Japan to fight for the government against the Samurai that have for so long defended Japan but are now anachronistic in their eyes. In a twist of fate, he is forced to lead his forces against the Samurai before they are ready and his forces are easily routed and he is captured. Feeling merciful and wanting to learn more about his new enemy, Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) spares his life and takes him to his village for the winter. Captain Algren spends that time there and suddenly finds a rebirth... What follows from there is an exceptional film both in its touching and intriguing story and the extraordinary battle scenes. I highly recommend this film to any and all fans of films in this genre as they will be highly satisfied with it. {ssintrepid} Special Features: -Commentary by Director Edward Zwick
-History Channel Documentary "History vs. Hollywood: The Last Samurai"
-Tom Cruise A Warrior's Journey
-Edward Zwick: Director's Video Journal
-Making an Epic: A Conversation with Edward Zwick and Tom Cruise
-A World of Detail: Production Design with Lilly Kilvert
-Silk and Armor: Costume Design with Ngila Dickson
-Imperial Army Basic Training
-From Soldier to Samurai: The Weapons
-Deleted Scenes
-Japan Premieres
-DVD-ROM PC Web Link
-Theatrical Trailer
Rating: 
Summary: Historically innacurate but entertaining
Review: Despite the gross inaccuracies concering the depiction of the Satsuma rebellion, I very much enjoyed this movie for its likable characters, honest portrayal of human relationships, and laudable themes. Tom Cruise (whose work I do not enjoy as a rule) appeared to be quite comfortable in his role. The real star of the file was Ken Watanabe, who walked the fine line between warrior and philosopher. My only other complaint with the film was that we never really established who the title character, the last samurai, was; perhaps this would've given this film that last vital shove into greatness. Better luck next time.
-N
Rating:
Summary: A Great Movie about Honor and Disappearing Culture
Review: This movie is about the honor of a disappearing culture falling to the ever enchroaching imperial world in both 19th Century America and Europe. It is about the Samurai who are no longer needed in a Westernized Japan and symbolizes the culture of Japan as it is swallowed up by Western Imperialism in the 19th Century. The movie centers around Captain Algren (Tom Cruise), an ex-American Civil War soldier and Indian fighter who has lost his honor and is disillusioned about the world he lives in. Tom Cruise is great in this role and is quite possibily his best role yet. Algren is sent to Japan by America to train the Imperial Japanese army in the way of Western warfare and weaponry. This sets up the confrontation between the Samurai, who are defending their dying culture, and Algren, who is trying to destroy that culture. Algren is captured by Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), the Samurai leader, in the battle. While in capitivity, Algren learns the way of the Samurai and comes to respect the dying culture. Many people say this is just a rip off of Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves. It isn't. This is a vastly different storyline with a similiar idea that can be seen in Dances With Wolves. The two are different stories. The production values of this movie are great and well directed by Edward Zwick (Glory). Definitely the a great directed movie. My hat is off to the crew that made this happen. Yes, there are historical accuracies in the film, but besides Gods and Generals and Gettysburg, how many films are historical accurate? Not many and if they were they would probably be rather boring to many. On this DVD is a documentary about the true story of the Last Samurai by the History Channel. So if you are worried about historical inaccuracies then you can get the real tale in the documentary on the special features disc. All in all a great movie about a dying culture and how some people won't simple [surrender] themself to save their life and lose their culture.
Rating: 
Summary: Keeps your attention, but don't buy for your collection
Review: This movie can hold your attention, but historically it is somewhat inaccurate. I also have a number of problems with the plot. How does a non-samurai learn to be such a great swordsman in only a few short months when others spend the lives dedicated to this art and cannot even match his prowess? Why is Cruise's character spared at the end? If he has become a samurai, he would have been killed. He is also a Gaijin, a foreign barbarian, and should be killed for this. Oh, I forgot he is Maverick, not Goose.
Rating:
Summary: Good action movie, but not family friendly.
Review: The Last Samurai is a movie of great action that ends in sadness. Almost everyone you care about gets killed. Samurai were feudal lords who occasionally battled the Emperors and those that controlled the emperor. The fight scenes and the cinematography are at times awesome. Cruise is very creditable in his role as a disillusioned X-army Captain who had been with the seventh cavalry, presumably with Reno's force after Custer divided his force into three groups, hence he survived. Cruise goes to Japan to teach the Emperors army how to use modern western weapons, gets captured and ends up sympathetic to his captures cause. Patty Hurst Syndrome? It is a little bit like the Last of the Mohicans or the Thirteenth Warrior. The viewer is left with a an empty feeling and of course the bad guys are the Americans. Once one gets past the politics of the makers of the movie and the inaccurate historical presentation it's a pretty good movie for those old enough for an R rating. This is not a sword fight movie to watch with ones 10 year old. Heads fly, blood spurts and at times the story bogs down into the maudlin and smarmy. There is probably a 5 star movie inside this otherwise 3 star movie, if they'd let me edit it down to 90 or 100 minutes, removing the moderate use of cursing, the really boring moments that contribute little to the story line, blood spurting and the beheadings. For a better sword action movie with sharp editing and a great screen play, check out Antonio Banderas in the Thirteenth Warrior. 13th is still not a movie for your 10 year old, but that is more because it creates a scariness and feeling of dread about what the Warriors are up against.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Samurai (2003)
Review: Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, William Atherton, Chad Lindberg, Tony Goldwyn.
Running Time: 154 minutes
Rated R for graphic violence, battle scenes, and mild language. Tom Cruise plays the war hero Nathan Algren, who with the support of his commanding officers, is sent to Japan to train the troops of an inexperienced infantry in order to wage a battle against the mighty Samurai Katsumoto. While in the midst of battle against Katsumoto, Algren is held captive and taken back to the enemy's village. While recovering from the war and learning the customs of those inhabiting the village, the war hero becomes engrossed with the culture and the intellectual Katsumoto. Eventually, the two unite to form a bond, striving to fight for the right reasons and uphold the Japanese traditions that the United States are threatening to destroy and reform. "The Last Samurai" is equivalent to the beauty and eloquence of director Zwick's previous masterpiece "Glory". The film is exceptionally portrayed by not only Cruise, but especially Watanabe as the heroic Japanese fighter that leads his village against the mighty American-influenced infantry. The battle scenes are gruesome and mind-captivating, with many slow-motion cuts and fast-paced war sequences alike. Although not a typical Cruise role, certainly one of the better films of 2003 and one that should inspire viewers and congratulate all those who have fought for something they believed in.
Rating:
Summary: WARRIOR AS SPIRITUAL PATH
Review: There are many spoilers ahead, so if you haven't seen the movie yet you may want to pass on my comments. I highly recommend that you view this movie with your heart and not your head ("no mind"). It seems there is always something to criticize, but in the case of "The Last Samurai", if you take a critical approach you may miss a truly genuine and moving film experience.
There seems to be an evolution and transformation of the warrior going on in some major movies made in recent years. Movies that deal with the warrior archetype that were major blockbusters include: DANCES WITH WOLVES, GLADIATOR and now: THE LAST SAMURAI. What is interesting to me when critics start nitpicking about historical inaccuracies is that they may have failed to see an interesting phenomena transpiring in these films and that is the tranformation of the warrior archetype in the present. I dont give a rat's patoootie that SAMURAI failed to depict an historical period accurately. What I feel Ed Zwick was trying to do was to reframe history in the present; to present a set of values that are badly needed in our current egregious war culture. The medium he used is the code the Samurai lived by: the Bushido. Tell me if you don't think the following values are needed in our current world situation: HONESTY and JUSTICE, POLITE COURTESY, HEROIC COURAGE, HONOR, COMPASSION, COMPLETE SINCERITY and DUTY and LOYALTY. These are the Bushido code. If the director doctored history a little to present this code and the Samurai culture as accurately as he could in terms of it's core values and at the same time make a highly entertaining film, in my mind he accomplished his intent.
I would like here to address another couple of criticisms expressed on another site. The first criticism is that the Samurai are nothing more than terrorists because of their willingness to die in battle and commit suicide (seppuku). This reviewer entirely missed the point and content of the Samurai way of life. A true Samurai would never consider ramming an airplane into a building and killing innocents, for example, as being an honorable death. I am sure they would consider this a terribly shameful way to engage the enemy and if in any way associated with such an act commit seppuku on the spot!
Another critic considered Omura (one of the emperor's top advisors) to be the true hero of the film because he brought laws and democracy to Japan. From what I could observe in the film, yes he promoted new laws, but also introduced new weaponry and their promise of wealth and increased power. One of the points Ed Zwick drove home in a most dramatic and visceral fashion was the egregious use of the gatling gun in destroying the last of the Samurai. In the film the use of the gatling gun was observed to be so shameful to the Japanese conscripts (under Omura's command) that they bowed to honor the death of their fellow contrymen. Here Ed Zwick uses his directorial sword to cut away that which does not belong to a true code of honor. He showed dramatically and profoundly the DISHONOR of the new sophisticated weaponry.
Having said all this, for me the emphasis in the film of the spirituality of the Samurai culture was the most touching. The Samurai is a wholistic culture which includes meditation, the esthetic beauty of their martial arts, the tea ceremony, the writing of poetry and their liviing of the Bushido. In the end (spoiler ahead) Katsumoto, I feel, achieved Satori (Japanese for enlightenment) by fully living this code. As he is dying, having committed seppuku on the battlefield, he observes the beautiful cherry blossoms floating in the smoky air. He comments: "Perfect....they are ALL perfect". (Earlier in the film he had said that one could spend a whole lifetime looking for the perfect cherry blossom and it would not be a wasted life.)
TO THE JAPANESE: As a western viewer relatively unfamiliar with Samurai culture I want to thank all the Japanese who participated in the making of this film. Especially the lead actors Ken Watanabe, Hiroyuki Sanada and Koyuki. Although the Japanese make wonderful Samurai films in their own right, in order for the beauty and values of the Samurai culture to reach us here, where they are badly needed I might add, only a high budget Hollywood film could reach great numbers of people. I was absolutely stunned by the performances of the Japanese actors. Where have they been hiding? Yes, they are (some of them) big in Japan, but I for one would like to see more of their work here. Please, please, please come here to America and make more movies! Continue your work in Japan, too, but it is time to share the wealth, so to speak. We are so grateful for your participation in this film and want to see more of you.
Rating:
Summary: Not historical, hysterical
Review: The only redeeming features of this movie are great sets, excellent cinematograpy, and fantastic battle sequences. And the Japanese actor, who was great and should have won an academy award for best supporting actor (the normally excellent Tim Robbins somehow won for a shockingly poor performance in Mystic River). The entire premise of the film, though, is preposterous. Would American audiences praise a film that reconstructs history so as to idealize the slave society of the south? Of course not. And especially not if the characters were as poorly-drawn as those in Last Samurai. But that's essentially what happens here. Look, there are tons of films that idealize a more pastoral, simpler way of life and condemn the evils of modernity. They don't have to be bad. But when they're "historical" but instead based on out-and-out lies, the impact is somewhat diminished. The fact is, the Samurai in Japan were not the keepers of wonderful traditions and Meiji Japan did not sell out its values to become Westernized. The Samurai system was feudal and perpetuated great evils and injustices to befall the average person. In 19th century, many Samurai had regressed to performing few serivices at all and lived lives fattening themselves on the government coffers at the expense of the toiling peasants. The Japanese emperor saw that his society was brutally backward and did a magnificent service to his country by becoming modern as quickly as possible. Many Samurai, upset that their caste system and free lunches were coming to an end, rebelled. The Last Samurai is the story of this rebellion, and all its box-office hopes were pinned on the assumption that Americans are so ignorant of Asian history that they would have no idea that what they were watching was a perversion of history similar to a bunch of plantation owners being idealized as the keepers of traditional values. The politics of a film, itself, should not be the determining factor of its worth and had this merely been an action film perhaps some of the historical liberties would be more excusable. But it isn't merely an action film; the director pounds the seriousness and gravity of the situation into the audience's skulls with nearly every scene. Thus, the film's false premises make the situation appear all the more ludicrous. Watch the film if you must -- then read up on Japanese history. You won't be able to watch it again.
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