Product Description

Epic Action Drama. Set in Japan during the 1870s, The Last Samurai tells the story of Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), a respected American military officer hired by the Emperor of Japan to train the country's first army in the art of modern warfare. As the Emperor attempts to eradicate the ancient Imperial Samurai warriors in preparation for more Westernized and trade-friendly government policies, Algren finds himself unexpectedly impressed and influenced by his encounters with the Samurai, which places him at the center of a struggle between two eras and two worlds, with only his own sense of honor to guide him.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by Edward Zwick
DVD ROM Features
Deleted Scenes:The Beheading (Behind the Beheading) Algren and Katsumoto
Documentaries:History vs. Hollywood: The Last Samurai {History Channel Documentary)
Featurette:Tom Cruise: A Warrior's Journey Edward Zwick: Director's Video Journal {Behind-the-scenes production journal - narrated by Ed 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
Interviews:Making an Epic: A Conversation with Edward Zwick
Other:Japan Premieres {Tokyo & Kyoto red carpet)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2386 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-05-04
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .35 pounds
• Running time: 154 minutes

Amazon.com
While Japan undergoes tumultuous transition to a more Westernized society in 1876-77, The Last Samurai gives epic sweep to an intimate story of cultures at a crossroads. In America, tormented Civil War veteran Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is coerced by a mercenary officer (Tony Goldwyn) to train the Japanese Emperor's troops in the use of modern weaponry. Opposing this "progress" is a rebellion of samurai warriors, holding fast to their traditions of honor despite strategic disadvantage. As a captive of the samurai leader (Ken Watanabe), Algren learns, appreciates, and adopts the samurai code, switching sides for a climactic battle that will put everyone's honor to the ultimate test. All of which makes director Edward Zwick's noble epic eminently worthwhile, even if its Hollywood trappings (including an all-too-conventional ending) prevent it from being the masterpiece that Zwick and screenwriter John Logan clearly wanted it to be. Instead, The Last Samurai is an elegant mainstream adventure, impressive in all aspects of its production. It may not engage the emotions as effectively as Logan's script for Gladiator, but like Cruise's character, it finds its own quality of honor. --Jeff Shannon

DVD features
No actor works harder to open a movie than Tom Cruise. His enthusiasm is throughout the DVD extras as he mirrors his samurai character by constantly talking about "loyalty" and "discipline" while working on the film. However as a post-movie experience, the top-line extras with Cruise and director Edward Zwick are repetitive and underwhelming, with too many clips from the film we assume DVD viewers have just seen. The History Channel show is also a pre-release promotional device that misses an opportunity to really dig into this intriguing time period. Better are segments on the costumes, the production design, and how you put together an Imperial army--in New Zealand, no less. Zwick's low-key and dense commentary (plus a "Video Journal") is not vital, but he illustrates many of the little peculiarities it took to make the wide-ranging film come together. There are two deleted scenes; a samurai's first appearance is particularly memorable. --Doug Thomas

From The New Yorker
Tom Cruise is Nathan Algren, a disillusioned Civil War hero, who goes to Japan in 1876 and trains the Emperor's army in modern warfare. In their first encounter with the great samurai Lord Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), the gun-toting soldiers are overwhelmed and Algren is carted off to Katsumoto's mountain retreat, where the two warriors have dignified conversations about loyalty and cherry blossoms and other profound Japanese things. Redeemed by discipline and honor, Algren trains as a samurai and, in the end, fights alongside the great man. The director, Edward Zwick, attempting to revive the stately manner of sixties epics, has made a very earnest piece of work-handsome, methodical, pious, and rather doggedly literal. The training sequences are fun (Cruise gets knocked on his ass again and again), and the big battles are thrilling. Yet the naïve association of virtue with feudalism and the scene of Algren kneeling before the Emperor induce a certain amount of queASINess. With the beautiful ex-model Koyuki as Taka, the widow who takes care of Algren. From a story by John Logan, who worked with Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz on the stiff-jointed screenplay. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker