The Last Samurai

Also known as Last Samurai

2003 film directed by Edward Zwick

OverviewAI-generated

The Last Samurai is a 2003 war, drama, action, and historical film directed by Edward Zwick. The screenplay was written by John Logan, Marshall Herskovitz, and Edward Zwick, with Hans Zimmer composing the score. The cast includes Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Shin Koyamada, and Tony Goldwyn. Production was handled by Bedford Falls Productions and Cruise/Wagner Productions, while Warner Bros. Pictures and Radar Pictures were involved in distribution. The film was shot in New Zealand, Japan, and at Engyō-ji Temple, with narrative locations set in California and Japan.

The movie has a runtime of 154 minutes and was released on December 5, 2003. It was produced with a budget of 140000000 and generated revenue of 456800000. The film received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Sound. It holds a rating of 7.8 on IMDb based on 504956 votes and a vote average of 7.6 on TMDb from 7518 votes. The original motion picture score was released in 2003.

Synthesized by Vinony from 48 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, Firecrawl, IMDb, MusicBrainz, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Film · TMDB

7.6

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

Released: 2003-12-05154 minDir: Edward ZwickDrama, Action, WarBudget: $140MBox office: $457M

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Cast

Tom Cruise as Nathan Algren
Ken Watanabe as Moritsugu Katsumoto
Timothy Spall as Simon Graham
Tony Goldwyn as Col. Benjamin Bagley
Hiroyuki Sanada as Ujio
Koyuki as Taka

Themes

japan
samurai
swordplay
general
sense of guilt
war veteran
sword
war crimes
loss of loved one
self-discovery

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Ratings

IMDb

7.8/10

504,956 votes

Year: 2003
Runtime: 154 min
Genres: Action, Drama

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: film
Award: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Genre: adventure film
Country of origin: Japan
Original language: English language
Main subject: Battle of Shiroyama
Depicts: seppuku
Director: Edward Zwick
Screenwriter: Edward Zwick
Cast member: Shun Sugata
Composer: Hans Zimmer
Producer: Tom Cruise
Production company: Cruise/Wagner Productions
Cinematographer: Q585668
Narrative location: Japan
Filming location: Japan
Duration: 154
FilmAffinity ID: 990754
Distribution format: video on demand
Official website: www.lastsamurai.com

Show 13 more facts

Commons category: The Last Samurai
title: L'últim samurai
nominated for: Academy Award for Best Sound
distributed by: Netflix
film editor: Steven Rosenblum
costume designer: Ngila Dickson
described at URL: tw.movie.yahoo.com/movieinfo_main.html/id=480
capital cost: 140000000
box office: 456758981
assessment: Bechdel test
review score: 65%
characters: Emperor Meiji
publication date: 2007-11-16

Sources (15)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

The Last Samurai is a 2003 American epic period action drama film directed and produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Tom Cruise, who also produced, along with Timothy Spall, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Koyuki Kato in supporting roles. The film's plot was inspired by the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion, led by Saigō Takamori, and the Westernization of Japan by foreign powers.

Cruise portrays Nathan Algren, an American captain of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, whose personal and emotional conflicts bring him into contact with samurai warriors in the wake of the Meiji Restoration in 19th century Japan. The character of Algren is very loosely based on Eugène Collache and Jules Brunet, both French Imperial Guard officers who fought alongside Enomoto Takeaki in the earlier Boshin War.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Last Samurai” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.