Roger Ebert compared The Last Samurai to Lawrence of Arabia and Dancing with Wolves. Well, its not Lawrence, but it comes sort of close to Dancing with Wolves. Even if you dont like Tom Cruise, rest of the cast is excellent, featuring Watanabe, Koyuki, Timothy Spall, …
Edward Zwick directed The Last Samurai as a very powerful and epic piece of Japan´s history.
The film score is Hans Zimmer's 100th score – and one of his best.