Los Angeles Times, 12/05/2003, p.C1, "THE LAST SAMURAI affords the sort of fizzy enjoyment that can come with epic movie endeavors, including a meticulously detailed world unlike our own, an excellent supporting cast and some pulse-pounding fights."
New York Times, 12/05/2003, p.E1, "Mr. Zwick has absorbed the lethal agility of Akira Kurosawa; what registers just as powerfully as the sureness of the combatants is the ugly futility of the battles themselves."
Chicago Sun-Times, 12/05/2003, p.39, "Beautifully designed, intelligently written, acted with conviction, it's an uncommonly thoughtful epic."
Widescreen Review, 06/01/2006, p.61, "THE LAST SAMURAI is another stirring Civil War-era epic directed by Edward Zwick."
Sight and Sound, 02/01/2004, p.50, "[With] some of the most impressively realised battles this side of Middle Earth."
Title Note
Theatrical Release Date: December 5, 2003
Release Note
Blu-ray Disc Features:
Blue BD Case Widescreen - 2.40 Audio: Dolby Digital Surround Sound 5.1 - English Dolby Digital Surround Sound 2.0 - French, Latin Spanish Subtitles - English SDH, English, French Narrative, French, Spanish - Optional Additional Release Material: Commentaries - 1. Edward Zwick - Director Interviews - 1. "Making an Epic: A Conversation with Edward Zwick" Featurettes - 1. Deleted Scenes a. "The Beheading (Behind the Beheading)" b. "Algren and Katsumoto" 2. "History vs. Hollywood: The Last Samurai {History Channel Documentary)" 3. "Tom Cruise: A Warrior's Journey" 4. "Edward Zwick: Director's Video Journal {Behind-the-Scenes Production Journal - Narrated by Ed Zwick and Tom Cruise" 5. "A World of Detail: Production Design with Lilly Kilvert" 6. "Silk and Armor: Costume Design with Ngila Dickson" 7. "Imperial Army Basic Training: From Soldier to Samurai: The Weapons"
Blu-ray Disc Features:
Blue BD Case Widescreen - 2.40 Audio: Dolby Digital Surround Sound 5.1 - English Dolby Digital Surround Sound 2.0 - French, Latin Spanish Subtitles - English SDH, English, French Narrative, French, Spanish - Optional Additional Release Material: Commentaries - 1. Edward Zwick - Director Interviews - 1. "Making an Epic: A Conversation with Edward Zwick" Featurettes - 1. Deleted Scenes a. "The Beheading (Behind the Beheading)" b. "Algren and Katsumoto" 2. "History vs. Hollywood: The Last Samurai {History Channel Documentary)" 3. "Tom Cruise: A Warrior's Journey" 4. "Edward Zwick: Director's Video Journal {Behind-the-Scenes Production Journal - Narrated by Ed Zwick and Tom Cruise" 5. "A World of Detail: Production Design with Lilly Kilvert" 6. "Silk and Armor: Costume Design with Ngila Dickson" 7. "Imperial Army Basic Training: From Soldier to Samurai: The Weapons"
Product Notes
Edward Zwick directs this sumptuously designed, action-packed period epic that stars Tom Cruise as Captain Nathan Algren. Algren, a former Civil War hero, is adrift in 1870s San Francisco after the war, a lost soul struggling to stay afloat in a booze-soaked stupor. When he is recruited by the Japanese government to train the Emperor's army, he departs for the unknown shores of Japan and begins training the soldiers in American military tactics. But these skills are useless against a band of samurai rebels led by the proud warrior Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), and Algren is easily defeated. He is taken to a remote samurai village where he learns samurai warrior codes and ways of life, developing a deep bond with Katsumoto and sharing philosophical conversations with him. Caught between the feudal culture of the ancient samurai warriors and the encroachment of modern society, Algren is forced to choose between his own culture or Katsumoto's. THE LAST SAMURAI is lavish in its dramatic period costumes and intense performances, and will thrill fans of both historical drama and action films.
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