What can I say, this was an absolutely superb movie I wish I would have gone to see it at the cinema!
When i first saw this movie advertised, I assumed it was going to be one of those movies where tom cruise goes around killing absolutley everyone in other words lame, but how very wrong I was. The movie tells the story of an american war captain who is sent to Japan to fight against those who are rebelling i.e the samurai however he is captured by these samurai warriors and is eventually welcomed into the samurai community and ends up fighting those who he originally came out with. The movie has some great fighting scenes and really brings out a lot of history about the ancient samurai ways of life, in particular their resentment to use firearms even though they know they will get killed, as well as providing its audience with a good insight into typical 19th century Japanese life. In my opinion this is the best role Cruise has ever played. It's one of those movies that really involves the audience emotionally, I for one was almost in tears at the end of the movie and I'm sure many will agree with me on this.
Disc one The first disc quite simply contains the movie with the usual options to have subtitles etc. I have the widescreen edition.
Disc two This is just as good as the movie itself. It has many features including:
Tom Cruise - A Warriors Journey- This is an in depth interview with Tom Cruise in which he talks about the movie itself in terms of the storyline.
Directors Video Journey - Edward Zwick the films director gives commentary on the making of the film in the form of a home movie style video. Some great behind the scenes foot
Conversation between Cruise and Zwick - Here Zwick interviews Cruise about how he felt about playing the role and they talk about old times.
History vs Hollywood - This is a very educational piece on how the film compares to that of real historical documents.It takes a look at old scriptures as well as interviews with experts in such fields.
Production design, Costume Design, Army Training and Weapons - This part of the dvd, gives the viewer a very detailed insight into the making of the film. It shows exactly how the weapons and costumers were made using traditional Japanese techniques and allows you to realise how much effort went into the making of this movie.
Bushido - This is a set of written pieces which show what is basically the Samurai's bible. It describes exactly how a samurai should live his life.
Deleted scenes - There are two deleted scenes here. They are very good and its a shame they weren't included in the movie.
Japanese Premiere - Here is some footage from the Japanese premiere of the film in tokyo Japan
Trailer - The last thing on this disc is a theatrical trailer for the movie.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Hiya! What they said really, leave a message in my guestbook if you edit and I'll rerate, you just need to bung more info in, take a peek at some more film reviews if you need inspiration! Koz x
lora44 05.04.2005 12:17
If you add any more info to this review leave a message in my guestbook and I'll re-rate. (Might be worth mentioning what's on the second disc etc)
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Advantages: great cinematography, good action, good special features, well acted by tom cruise. Disadvantages: story line a bit wobbly, surely he should of died!
Advantages: great cinematography, good action, good special features, well acted by tom cruise. Disadvantages: story line a bit wobbly, surely he should of died!
![The Last Samurai (Two Disc Edition) [2003] [DVD] [2004]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78512929.jpg "The Last Samurai (Two Disc Edition) [2003] [DVD] [2004]")
Apr 4th, 2005
(Apr 5th, 2005)
helpful by (69%):
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