Troy The Last Samurai DVD with Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly (R) +Movie Reviews

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Troy / The Last Samurai
Actors: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, Brad Pitt, Eric Bana
Directors: Edward Zwick, Wolfgang Petersen
Genres: Action & Adventure, Drama, Military & War

R 2005 5hr 16min

There are many reasons to recommend Troy as a good ol' fashioned Hollywood epic, especially if you've never read Homer's The Iliad. Dispensing with Greek gods altogether, this earnestly massive production (budgeted at upwa... more »rds of $200 million) will surely offend historians and devoted students of the classics (for them, there's the History Channel's Troy). But there's politics aplenty in the grand-scale war that erupts when Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) makes off with Helen (blandly beautiful German model Diane Kruger), wife of Spartan ruler Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), whose brother, the Greek king Agamemnon (Brian Cox) prods him into enraged retaliation. Greek warrior Achilles (Brad Pitt) brings lethal force to his battles (and there are many of them, mostly impressive), and his Trojan counterpart, Paris's brother Hector (Eric Bana), adds even more buffed-up beefcake to a film so chock-full o' hunks that there's barely room for Peter O'Toole (doing fine work as Trojan king Priam) and even less for Julie Christie, appearing ever-so-briefly as Achilles's melancholy mother. The drama is nearly as arid as the sun-baked locations (Mexico and Malta) that stand in for the Aegean coast, and many critics suggested that Pitt (who valiantly tries to give Achilles some tormented dimension) was simply miscast. But when you consider that Wolfgang Petersen also made The Perfect Storm, there's nothing wrong with enjoying Troy as a semi-guilty pleasure with a touch of ancient class. --Jeff Shannon 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

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Movie Details

Actors: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, Brad Pitt, Eric Bana
Directors: Edward Zwick, Wolfgang Petersen
Creators: Edward Zwick, Barbara Huber, David Benioff, Homer, John Logan, Marshall Herskovitz
Genres: Action & Adventure, Drama, Military & War
Sub-Genres: Tom Cruise, Love & Romance, Military & War
Studio: Warner Home Video
Format: DVD - Color,Widescreen - Closed-captioned
DVD Release Date: 04/05/2005
Original Release Date: 05/14/2004
Theatrical Release Date: 05/14/2004
Release Year: 2005
Run Time: 5hr 16min
Screens: Color,Widescreen
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaDVD Credits: 2
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 0
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Languages: English, French, Japanese

Member Movie Reviews

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 10/24/2020...

The Last Samurai - Solid Samurai plotline. Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe and others shine in this.

Troy - Had great potential and an all-star cast of characters but it never got there. Big fan of Pitt but not in this. Look elsewhere like Gladiator with Russell Crowe!