The last samurai soundtrack

The site's consensus states: "With high production values and thrilling battle scenes, The Last Samurai is a satisfying epic. Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "beautifully designed, intelligently written, acted with conviction, it's an uncommonly thoughtful epic. One online analyst compares the movie favorably to Dances with Wolves in that each protagonist meets and combats a "technologically backward people".

Both Costner's and Cruise's characters have suffered through a series of traumatic and brutal battles. Each ultimately uses his experiences to later assist his new friends. Each comes to respect his newly adopted culture. Each the last samurai soundtrack fights with his new community against the people and traditions from which he came.

The film achieved higher box office receipts in Japan than in the United States. Todd McCarthya film critic for the Variety magazine, wrote: "Clearly enamored of the culture it examines while resolutely remaining an outsider's romanticization of it, yarn is disappointingly content to recycle familiar attitudes about the nobility of ancient cultures, Western despoilment of them, liberal historical guilt, the unrestrainable greed of capitalists and the irreducible primacy of Hollywood movie stars.

According to the history professor Cathy Schultz, "Many samurai fought Meiji modernization not for altruistic reasons but because it challenged their status as the privileged warrior caste. Meiji reformers proposed the radical idea that all men essentially being equal The film also misses the historical reality that many Meiji policy advisors were former samurai, who had voluntarily given up their traditional privileges to follow a course they believed would strengthen Japan.

He was opposed to the excessively rapid changes in Japanese society and was particularly disturbed by the shabby treatment of the warrior class. Inthe movie was one of several discussed by Keli Goff in The Daily Beast in an article on white savior narratives in film[ 29 ] a cinematic trope studied in sociology, for which The Last Samurai has been analyzed.

In a interview with The GuardianKen Watanabe stated that he didn't think of The Last Samurai as a white savior narrative and that it was a turning point for Asian representation in Hollywood. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item.

This article is about the film. For the unrelated novel, see The Last Samurai novel. For other uses, see The Last Samurai disambiguation. Steven Rosenblum Victor Dubois. Warner Bros. Release dates. November 20, Tokyo December 5, United States. Running time. Plot [ edit ]. Cast [ edit ]. Tom Cruise left and Ken Watanabe play Capt. Nathan Algren and Lord Moritsugu Katsumoto respectively.

Watanabe garnered critical acclaim for performance as Katsumoto, earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Production [ edit ]. This section relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources at this section.

August Learn how and when to remove this message. Music [ edit ]. Further information: The Last Samurai soundtrack. Hans Zimmer. Release [ edit ]. Reception [ edit ]. Critical response [ edit ]. Box office [ edit ]. Accolades [ edit ]. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section.

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. January Learn how and when to remove this message. Criticism and debate [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved February 28, American Film Institute. British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved April 1, Retrieved May 29, Box Office Mojo.

Retrieved September 17, Martial Arts Studies. ISSN Retrieved October 17, Retrieved August 11, Retrieved November 24, Warner Sunset Records. Rovi Corp. Taiko's pound out rhythms in the background while the strings take most of the thematic material, giving way to toned-down brass only a few times. The final variations of the themes are played out here: it is the American theme, nearly unrecognizable in its resemblance to the Samurai theme, which it starts as, then shifts to Algren's theme.

The latter part of this track and the final one, "A Small Measure of Peace," close the album the last samurai soundtrack, segueing back to Thin Red Line -esque layered string textures. Snippets of the themes are present here, but very subtle. The Taiko and brass make a final appearance, taking over briefly for the strings, but the music shifts back to the strings quickly.

The track closes with a return to the "Journey to the Line"-like chord progressions from the first track. Thematically, Gladiator was more expansive. However, The Last Samurai is deeper because of the way Zimmer fused the ethnic instruments into it, something he could not do to the same extent with Gladiator. Additionally, The Last Samurai is more cohesive.

The themes and instruments segue together in very fluid transitions. It takes the Asian instrumentation to a level above even Jerry Goldsmith 's Mulan. There is no other composer better suited for this score. Zimmer redefined modern film music and here he takes his standard American themes and molds them into Japanese instrumentation the same way Algren is taken into the Japanese culture.

The most impressive aspect if this score is its authenticity. Most notable are the use of Taiko drums. These instruments were used on the battlefield to send out orders and only recently mid's or so have developed into a solo instrument used for performance. However, the Taiko performances in The Last Samurai are more authentic and bring to mind the martial effects of the drums, as Zimmer utilizes them in conjunction with the battle sequences in the film.

Reportedly, he tested Taiko rhythms electronically, experimenting with over 10, rhythms before selecting the ones that sounded the most natural. It is clear that Zimmer took this score and the ethnic instrumentation to heart and the authenticity of the sound reflects that. Zimmer's talent for creating and varying themes with each other shows here; it adds to the circular and flowing nature of this score.

The last samurai soundtrack

Reception [ edit ]. Live performances [ edit ]. Track listing [ edit ]. Title Length 1. Awards and nominations [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Archived from the original on January 2, Retrieved June 26, Archived from the original on October 25, Soundtrack World. Archived from the original on September 27, Archived from the original on June 26, Rovi Corporation.

Archived from the original on December 30, The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 24, Archived from the original on July 15, Screen Rant. Archived from the original on November 7, Archived from the original on October 13, Archived from the original on June 21, January 11,