The Last Samurai [Blu-ray] [2003]

Great movie for a great price. I’ve been a Best Buy customer since it’s inception. With the selection and prices you can’t go wrong.

This blu-ray captures what I think is one of Tom Cruise's best movies, and, in my view, he's made a lot of them. The colors brought out on this disc are just fantastic, and the sound and music are fully immersive. In the battle scenes, you can hear the bullets whizzing around you, and the soldiers and their adversaries shouting from all sides. Some people compare this film to Kevin Costner's "Dances With Wolves," and the themes of a person coming to deeply understand and identify with another culture are similar -- but, while Dances is a great movie and part of my collection as well, I think The Last Samurai is a much more profound and moving story, capturing the dignity of an impressive culture with great cinematography, great acting, and great music. This blu-ray brings all of that home. You just get the disc -- no digital copy with this version -- but still well worth a place in your collection.

This is an excellent film that is totally underrated. The Last Samurai really deserves a 4K blu ray release, but since there isn't one, this standard blu ray will have to do for now. The picture and audio quality are quite good here. And Hans Zimmer's beautiful score is presented very nicely as well. If you are a fan of Tom Cruise, Japanese culture, or samurai films in general, and somehow haven't seen this, you owe it to yourself to watch this one. The price of this blu ray was also great and made this an easy purchase.

It's 1876. Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) has been sent to Japan in order to help the Imperial Japanese Army become more 'modern' and less 'traditional' and ultimately prepare them to fight the legendary Samurai. Events occur that cause Tom Cruise to be a captive of the deadly but extremely polite Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) who is the leader of the Japanese Samurai. At this point, the viewer begins to learn why the Samurai are fighting to preserve their way of life against Western influences and Cruise's character becomes emotionally bound to them and he integrates himself into their society after working hard to earn their trust. However, the film is not solely about the struggle for the Samurai to keep their way of life, another subplot includes the low key and shy love relationship between Algren and Taka, a quiet widow (played with subtlety by Koyuki). Though it isn't a big part in the film, it highlights the emotional aspect of the film and shows that this is not a film about swords.

For Tom Cruise fans like myself, I knew this movie was not going to disappoint. Tom Cruise plays the main character, who is in the middle of Japan as they fight to cling to tradition, or push forward to modern economic times. This is Based on a true story. Definit purchase for any Samurai / civil war / Tom Cruise fans. You will not be disappointed.

A great action drama film! 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.

This film is a modern classic in my opinion. The railroad wants to come through a village of Samurai. But the Samurai don't make it easy fighting tooth and nail all along the movie. Tom Cruise's character is injured and has learned from the West. Now he learns from the East as he killed the husband of a blind woman. The blind woman cares for his injuries even though he would be considered an enemy. This all leads up to the final battle. I won't disclose the ending but it makes up what is so great about this film.

If I were to review just the movie it would be 5 stars. I ,ove this movie and feel that it is one of Tom Cruise's most underatted performances. If I were to rate the transfer on this Blu-Ray, I would rate it as 5 stars. No artifacts, high quality HD transfer. So why then did I give it only 4 stars? My copy that showed up from Best Buy was in less than perfect condition. It looked like one of those DVDs that you find in the big basket at Walmart for cheap....with hundreds of other dvds, one on top of the other, all crushing each other. I expect more from Best Buy which is why I buy my movies from them instead of Walmart.