The Last Samurai (2003) ✦ First Time Watching Emotional Reaction & Review
hello everyone and welcome into today’s reaction video thank you so much for joining me as I watched The Last Samurai from 2003 for the very first time my name is KL and my channel is dedicated to catching up on movies that I’ve never seen before and uploading these reactions and providing full thoughts and review I have watched films like Star Wars The Dark Knight trilogy I just recently started the MCU I’ve watched a few horror films couple romance movies we’re starting to like build up the channel and really broaden out a little bit and the
reason I’m watching The Last Samurai today is because I put my mom on the spot about a month ago and I asked her to pick three movies that she loves that I’ve never seen before she picked 27 Dresses passengers and The Last Samurai and I put those three movies up in a poll on patreon and passengers in the last summer I actually tied it was my first tie in a poll ever so I did commit to watching both passengers went out on the channel a few weeks ago and I’ll admit that I didn’t really care
for it that much it did kind of break my heart a little bit to let my mom know that so fingers crossed that I like The Last
channel and that has Tom Cruise in it so maybe Netflix is just gonna recommend all Tom Cruise movies to me as a high match but either way I’m excited to check this out I don’t know who else is in this movie I don’t know what the story is about I am going in pretty much with no knowledge whatsoever I did see the run time of this movie that’s the one thing I always look up is how long a movie is saw that it was a little bit on the longer side so I am prepared I
am ready to sit here and watch this movie and I know there are many of you out there that prefer to grab your own copy of the movie and sync it up with a full-length reaction to watch it together if you’re looking for that I upload all my full-length reactions over on my patreon you’ll find The Last Samurai there along with every other movie that I’ve watched on the channel if you’re interested that is all I have to say in this intro so with that it’s time to press play I’m about to start a two
and a half hour movie Japan was made by a handful of brave men Warriors willing to give their lives what seems to have become a forgotten word honor I really want to go to Japan one day it’s on the Travel bucket list ah hello Ken oh my gosh I didn’t know he was in this movie all right I’m excited now I’m very excited now I love him he’s such a fantastic actor foreign oh San Francisco 1876 okay is that Tom all right doesn’t look too good right now oh gosh this is the gun that’s winning
the West surrounded by a swarm angry hostels the Red Man is a fierce some I chose poor bastards out there body strip bear after rot in the sun he’s going off script oh my God I love how one guy in this audience is impressed by this all right thanks on behalf of those who died in the name of better mechanical amusements and Commercial opportunities good job for the both of us God knows it looks as if you’re gonna need one real soon what kind of a job Nathan algren I’d like you to meet Mr omura
from Japan willing to spend what it takes to hire white experts to train their army your performances for the Winchester company bring you 25 a week we will pay you 400 a month it’s a lot of money back how many other genuine Heroes you’ve got lined up who will be training your boys to fight his name is he was once the emperor’s teacher his Samurai the word you might use is Warrior is that who can please my guess is yes oh no the core back together again it’s just so I’ll just talk to him for
a minute I feel like that guy is not impressed at all he’s gonna get a firm talking too for 500 bucks a month I’ll kill whoever you want I keep one thing in mind I’d happily kill you for free oh all right damn July 12th 1876. there is some comfort in The Emptiness of the sea I have been hired to help suppress the rebellion of yet another tribal leader I am beset by the ironies of my life I am beset by the ironies of my life I like that quote a lot Yokohama Harbor 1876. yes
oh jolly good how’d you do Simon gray is this Peter pettigre’s actor wormtail from Harry Potter the emperor’s mad for all things West and the samurai believe it’s changing too fast for two thousand years no Emperor was even seen by a commoner you have to realize what an absolute treat this is what an honor do I look presentable I haven’t worn this in a decade you look great the Divine emperor made you bids you welcome the emperor is the most interested in the American Indians the red man is a brutal adversary they’re very brave thank
you very much Emperor’s just a young guy oh my God July 26th 1876 for six months work I am to receive three years of Captain’s pay teaching orientals to Soldier they are led by General Hospital a man of small stature who nonetheless commands enormous respect he uses no firearms you see through those who wanted the old ways katsumoto is a hero well the gentleman katsumoto fought together for the emperor nice this is a punitive Expedition Captain Colonel bagger these people had nothing to do with the rain these flashback scenes are really interesting I down the
site now slowly foreign have probably never held a gun before katsumoto’s attacked the railroad at the border of his Province he must be stopped now the rebels don’t have a single rifle they’re Savages with bows and arrows yeah and they’re probably really good with bows and arrows you have Superior Firepower and a larger Force I am ordering the regiment to move against the rebel katsumoto oh is he the guy that plays Carl in ghost I like just recognized his face he looks so different with a mustache and beard but what’s his name Tony Goldwyn is
that his name Captain if I might have a warrant I go I feel so bad for him they’re not ready the regiment leaves at 6am Yoshino Province apparently he refuses to fight against katsumota we are not here as combatants then who’s gonna lead these men they’re on offices for Christ’s sake let’s move to the rear Sergeant Gantt report to the rear that sees at the disposition of the supply trains Sergeant did you hear my order I did indeed sir good then you will obey it no disrespect intended server shove it up your ass wow I’m
really nervous for this such a pretty Forest reloading these weapons takes so long the music and this scene is really good whoa oh damn there he is he seems intrigued and interested foreign except for him oh I know that guy too can’t remember what he’s in though wow that fight was awesome I enjoyed that gosh these mountains are beautiful what is your name foreign this is my son’s Village we are deep in the mountains and the winter is coming you cannot Escape you can see okay it’s okay I feel like those are almost like alcohol
withdrawal Jitters I love how he’s just like snooping through his stuff I mean valid I guess but guys in rough shape it was looking a lot better I’m curious how many days it’s been since he’s been here really dude it’s got a name don’t you not me I don’t know why you don’t talk you’re angry because they make you wear a dress I don’t think that’s it this Temple was built by my family thousand years ago my name is katsumoto what is your name I will practice my English with you if you would honor me
English is already pretty good you kept me alive just to speak English and what do you want to know my enemy The Warriors here is in a country do not they don’t cut the heads off defeated kneeling men General Hospital asked me to help him end his life Samurai cannot stand the shame of defeat I was honored to cut off his head not to introduce yourself is considered extremely rude Nathan Auburn I’m honored to meet I have enjoyed this conversation in English I have questions I have introduced myself you have introduced yourself this is a
very good conversation I have questions which one’s gonna light up who’s the warrior in the red armor my brother-in-law and the woman who cares for me my sister he’ll tell us a wife her name is taka it was a good dad I love Ken’s voice I’ll always I just love hearing him talk he’s got a wonderful voice up I feel like this is kind of awkward for him the camera gotta take a hot bath oh so cute I love the fact it’s raining right now it just adds so much to the scene all right his
face is like pathetic oh might be able to take on a kid but to take on a man who’s been doing this for probably his whole life not gonna do that well plus that guy just wishes he could kill him a music gave me goosebumps so good I’ve yet to thank you for looking out for me yesterday that is your job correct well done Bob okay who’s who is teaching you the way of the Japanese sword you fought against your red Indians tell me your view apart in this war why are we still learn read
a book I would rather have a good composition we have both students of War you are the general of you on Captain this is a long run a middle rank don’t you have a rebellion to lead people in your country do not like composition his name is Custer this name she kills many warriors so he was a good General I mean he wasn’t a good General he was arrogant and foolhardy and he got massacred because he took a single Battalion against 2 000 angry Indians thousand Indians how many mouthful Custer two hundred dollars I fell
in love with his I think this is a very good death well maybe you can have one just like it someday if it is in my destiny what do you want from me what do you want for yourself what hell am I doing here this guy’s ready to go like I was really not giving him any information at all but I feel like soon we’re gonna get him training to be like a samurai right I feel like we’re slow burning to that I continue to live among these unusual people They’re Not Unusual they’re just not
like you oh hot pools I love natural Hot Springs everyone is polite everyone smiles and Bows but beneath their courtesy I detect a deep reservoir of feeling is he learning oh I used to do that as a kid and I thought I was so clever from the moment they wake they devote themselves to the Perfection of whatever they pursue they live slowly they live slowly and in the moment they care about things I am surprised to learn that the word Samurai means to serve and that katsumoto believes his Rebellion to be in the service of
the emperor unlike sword work is such an art form for them as much as it is to like defend and fight you know it’s like a dance almost to me and this armor is so pretty this kid about to show him how it’s done too many mine mine is holding minded people what mind the enemy no mind okay what are these Chopsticks Hashi aloogling magogiro again she’s so over this is probably still grieving will ask her husband and having to spend all that time with him oh so that’s why he didn’t answer him when he
asked why is he here because he doesn’t even know really it’s letting life just play out the way it’s meant to be I guess she’s been very kind to me she’s honored to have my guests sure honored oh I love that he’s practicing and I love this guy to seek a Stillness of your mind and to master the way of the sword it’s kind of like a form of meditation too Nathan’s Gonna Know fluent Japanese by the end of the movie sorry um for your husband you know turtle foreign all right I feel like Nathan’s
probably a little bit confused by it though but he’s kind of learning the way that they do things this marks the longest I’ve stayed in one place since I left the farm at 7 . oh wow there’s so much here that I will never understand but there is indeed something spiritual this place is beautiful I would love to spend a lot of time here I feel like there’s a there’s like a thing Brewing here between him and her they are each other a lot has me very curious how’s this gonna go thank you I feel
like he’s gotten a bit better though I love how this is filmed this is so good oh I loved that scene I think that was my favorite scene so far that was great oh my gosh hey no oh gosh say something say something oh dude oh yes Taco let’s go oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh hurry hurry hurry thank you yes old guy I’m Bob oh that was a lot oh my gosh that was so good I loved katsumoto and Nathan fighting side by side that was really good the perfect Blossom is a rare thing
who sent those men to kill you I’m writing a poem about a dream I heard he’s not gonna answer the question is he hi guys eyes are like my own he comes from Rockford deep and troubled to sea was it the emperor no more if the emperor versus my death he has about to ask so who’s Amor do you do not fear that but sometimes you wish for it it happens to a man who have seen what we have seen I come to this place so my ancestors are not member like this person’s we are
all dying the emperor has granted a safe passage to Tokyo we leave tomorrow good I feel like there’s going to be part of him that doesn’t want to leave though when I took this you’re my enemy oh so now you’re not especially now that they fought side by side yeah I feel like he’s maybe not going to want to leave and maybe they’re not even gonna want him to leave you know yeah he came us down sweet myself oh Ken’s look right now his serious face while on this horse wow what’s yours yes indeed 200
rounds a minute and the new cartridge is cut down on jamming I need a bath after living with those Savages I can only imagine elwa welcome back captain I have here a draft of the arms agreement I’m eager to know how many summer I have joined katsumoto I’m afraid I don’t know come man tell us what you saw as you said Savages with bows and arrows may I apply your whiskey no thank you like the first time he’s declined whiskey my guess is yes last year we are not prepared to go to battle but now
we are ready if katumoto is allowed to attract other Samurai to his cause we will have 10 years of rebellion this is something I will not allow but he’s not going to want to fight against them because now he knows them and they taught him how to be samurai you will crush him I appreciate the offer it is not an offer Mr Moore my contract with was to train your army then we will make a new contract one that we recognize the extraordinary contribution you have made to the emperor foreign it’s gonna take over questions
foreign 500 a month including back pay for time spent in captivity oh he is drinking I thought he was done catsimoto’s under arrest Amore won’t let him last the night and we should have a little trouble handling what’s left of the Rebellion what is it about your own people that you hate so much well he doesn’t have anything on him does he I love that in this way we get to see it a second time but like slow down just to like see what we missed maybe I’ll bind you behind you behind you mind you
damn um sorry well it worked so it’s fine how’s your poem coming you’ll return to him I decided to stay see if I could convince you to escape hey let’s go whoa whoa nice oh gosh no no no no no no no no no no foreign foreign could not hear my words his army will come it is the end for 900 years my ancestors have protected our people I have failed them The Way of the Samurai is not necessary anymore what could be more necessary I will die by The Sword and let it be your
enemies we will make the emperor hear you if me crying twice is not proof that this is a good movie so I don’t know what it is and little did she know the worst of the emotional damage was still to come my Studio that is so precious collide I’m gonna cry again because this damn kid’s crying for regimes wow I’m coming waves of a thousand they will come under we were in their kind of standard how many member we have maybe 500. there was once a battle at a place called Thermopylae 300 Brave Greeks held
off a Persian army of a million men take away the advantage of their guns I’m overconfident we use it nor them close May 25th 1877. this will be the last entry in this jerk I do not presume to understand the course of my life but I know I am grateful to have partaken of all this is there going to be a moment between these two before the battle begins I feel like it’s appropriate you know foreign that’s such a great scene I feel like I feel like I didn’t want to talk over it at all
I kind of feel that way about this whole movie actually it’s on one of those movies where I’m trying to get like almost hard to react to because I just want to sit back and like take it all in this looks good on him this looks good on him okay you see it looking good looking good too I love the eyeliner oh I’m nervous for this uh for this battle but I’m also very excited for it you will need this wow what does it say I belong to the warrior in the womb the older ways
I’ve joined the new oh there we go I love them riding side by side like this to go confront Imperial Army of Japan demands Your Surrender if you and your fellows laid on your arms you will not be harmed this is not possible Captain Oliver you ride against us and you were the same as they are I’ll look for you on the field aldrin’s like that’s the fucking point perhaps you can use these for your book oh yes that’s so kind of them Captain Godspeed I love his helmet it feels like so long ago that
he came here to teach them how to use guns and now he has to fight against the very people he was teaching foreign I love that this is in time with the song that’s playing the camera changes covering their Retreat even the mighty Samurai cannot stand up to the howitzer wait for the volley ball foreign what on Earth what is happening your men are burning that’s what’s happening oh what happened to the Warriors that is the last man thank you oh ever since Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings battles get me so emotional
I love this old man he’s so great foreign oh ouch whoa laughs foreign I should have died so many times before now you live again yes it was not your time it’s not over I don’t even have words right now what is this he’s going to attack he’s defeated he must accept his shame all of them foreign decoy come on you happy again neither are you ready I will miss other conversations perfect there are perfect foreign on behalf of the United States of America signing of this treaty will usher in an era of unprecedented prosperity
and cooperation between our two great Nations foreign he hoped with his last breath that you would remember the ancestors who and what they died for here shut up you were with him at the end I emperor this man fought against you if you believe me to be your enemy command me and I will gladly take my life I have dreamed of a unified as Japan of a country song and independent and mortar we have railroads and Cannon western clothing we cannot forget Who We Are I have concluded that your treaty is not in the best
interest all my people sir if I may so sorry you may not bye here shut up tell me how he died I will tell you how he lived and so the days of the Samurai had ended as for the American captain no one knows what became of him some say he died of his wounds did he go to Target the kids he may have at last found some small measure of peace I feel like I cried the entire last half hour of that so that was The Last Samurai and that was a lot more emotional
than I think I was expecting it to be the very first thing that I have done is I looked up who did the soundtrack for this movie I’m not at all surprised to find out that it was Hans Zimmer the legend the goat Interstellar is my favorite movie of all time those of you that have watched most of my videos will probably know that because I have mentioned it a handful of times and honestly I don’t even need to see the visuals of that movie if I hear any song from that film I will pretty
much cry on command and I get very emotional so I feel like the soundtrack for this movie is possibly going to be another one of those where I can just bring up the soundtrack on its own and just sit here and get all teary-eyed kind of replaying these moments in my head but then also just allowing myself to feel that emotional release I’m fairly confident that the music in this film was like 60 of the reason why I got so emotional during the battles the music was so good but also there’s just something so like
inspiring and hard breaking at the same time when it comes to battles that kind of just causes like this conflict within me that kind of I don’t know it just kind of triggers this release and anything that I guess I’ve kind of just like held in for a while that I haven’t let out that’s the moment and then it just all comes flooding out of me so normally I talk about the story and kind of like my overall thoughts on the film first but I’m actually going to kind of do a flipper Rooney and I’m
going to talk about the cast first I do really just want to do a quick rundown of the cast real quick so one it took me a while to recognize that it was Tony Goldwyn he looks so different with a beard and a mustache and also just dressed as a completely different person because I know Tony Goldwyn primarily from Ghost he plays Carl and ghost is a movie I’ve seen probably a hundred times but I knew right away that it was Timothy spall as uh Graham and I mean he’s got such a unique face and
I grew up with the Harry Potter movie so yeah I immediately recognized him just from his role as a worm tale slash Peter Pettigrew hiroyuki Sonata I am so upset at myself for not recognizing that he is Canada and sunshine sunshine is one of my favorite Sci-Fi movies ever and I’m I knew I knew his face could not think where it was from as soon as the movie was over I looked up his IMDb and then I went oh yeah duh and finally the actor that plays Ambassador swanbeck I knew that I knew his face
but do you think I could know what from no and as soon as I looked it up this is such a funny connection but um he played Sam Braun in the original CSI TV show and that was a recurring character throughout many episodes and yeah he’s got a very Unforgettable face even with a face full of facial hair I think the whole cast in this movie was phenomenal but in particular I really just want to call out Ken wasnabi and hiroyuki sonata’s performances I think that the movie really didn’t pick up for me until those
two appeared and then were very prominent from that moment through to the end of the film their line deliveries their facial expressions the way that they both fought they’re just phenomenal actors and they were playing really great characters and I just they stand out on top for me honestly all right let’s talk about Tom Cruise so I haven’t seen very many Tom Cruise movies the Tom Cruise movies that I’ve watched are Top Gun Rain Man and Edge of Tomorrow and the latter two were very recent I have reactions to them on the channel you can
go find them maybe I’ll link them down below in the description but uh yeah out of the four movies now that I’ve seen of Tom Cruise this movie is definitely easily my favorite performance by him I’m aware of how dedicated Tom Cruise is for his roles I know that he does all his own stunts and it really shows in this film just how dedicated he was because he did a really great job I really admire his performance here I also think that the type of character that he was playing in this film was a big
reason why I think that his performance in this film was just better than anything I’ve seen him in so far algren was a character where I never really got the sense at any point that he was someone that was trying to like interfere or trying to be like better than everyone else like the character was just super respectful full of everyone he had a willingness to learn and he came to fall in love with the people the culture and their way of life and I think it shows that at the end of the movie he
decided to go back to the village and carry out the rest of his life there and I really admire that I want to talk about taka real quick because I think that she was a wonderful character and I think that kiyukato did a really wonderful job portraying her and she really didn’t have very many speaking lines in this movie so we’re talking like body language facial expressions I think it was done really well and the scene that stands out so much to me is the scene where she dressed algarin in the robes and the base
wear for her husband’s armor that he would wear for the battle it was a very intimate scene and the kiss that they shared was particularly interesting because it almost came across to me more as like a very platonic kiss and not necessarily one that would that was fueled by a lot of romance or really even desire for one another more it was almost like a sign of respect and acceptance is kind of how that kiss came across to me anyway the way that scene was shot the fact that there was like barely any speaking in
it it was just a really wonderful moment in this movie and that particular scene just really stands out to me all right I’m gonna dive into the movie specifics now first I want to touch on the run time I actually found this movie a really good length I did not find it too long I didn’t find things dragged out and when I think about what you could cut from this movie I honestly don’t really think that anything could be cut or deserves to be cut I never once was bored with this movie at all and
I think the run time was perfect the scenery and the shots were beautiful when nothing was happening the cinematography just overall was amazing during conversations during the fights the battle at the end it was good I think the fights were choreographed really well everything looked super realistic and just it was very entertaining to watch and I loved it the battle at the end especially it was just very heavy and so emotional to watch and also yet yes Hans Zimmer score was definitely a big part of that but even just the visuals it was very intense
and I just found myself feeling so emotional and I mean you guys saw it like I barely talked I was just sitting here could not control my tears I mentioned this during the reaction but Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings were very instrumental for me to kind of realize how like girls can be Battle of the bastards is still probably my favorite on-screen battle period And I tear up every single time I watch it it is so good if you’ve never seen Game of Thrones just YouTube battle of the bastards specifically and watch
it I mean you won’t have the context to understand like just how it is but in terms of just the filming of it it’ll stick with me forever anyway I just think the entire like last 20 minutes of this movie was chef’s kiss Perfection I loved it it was so good one thing I just want to touch on real quick I don’t know how accurate this movie is I will admit that I know pretty much nothing about Japanese history the samurai in general anything like that so I don’t know if there are like issues with
this movie at all it’s not something that I’ve dug into yet the title of this film being called The Last Samurai so Samurai to me I mean it’s it’s like moose it can mean one or it can mean plural I feel like the movie is kind of almost pushing it for you to think either way like Tom Cruise being The Last One Alive The Last Samurai but to me it feels weird having like a white American man be The Last Samurai standing and have a title like that so I I hope and I feel like
the movie is actually referring to the whole group of Samurai that fought at the end and having that be The Last Samurai I’m gonna look that up as well I think later just to confirm like like what was the title referencing exactly my fingers are crossed for the group not for Tom Cruise and algren specifically because that just kind of feels weird to me overall this is a film that I will 100 watch again I’ll bring tissues next time because I know I will definitely cry in all rewatches in the future alright friends it is
time for the letterbox review segment of my reviews and I found some really good ones that I would like to share with you now so the first one is a four and a half star review by Ted Goose that says each day I try to be the sort of person a fictional character in this movie who I only know as Bob would be proud of and each day I fail the second review is a five star review by Carol that says and I quote I will miss our conversations from the film followed by I was
fighting through my own tears that the last 15 minutes of it I wasn’t expecting to love it so much and the reason I picked that review out is because I 100 agree with that that was me in this movie yes and now friends I turn it to you please leave your comments down below let me know what you thought of this movie what is your favorite part of it who is your favorite actor who is your favorite character do you also love Hans Zimmer as much as I do please let me know thank you so
much for tuning in to this reaction today if you’re not yet subscribed to the channel click here to do so and if you want to keep on watching video playlists are going to pop up right here thank you so so much and we will see you in the next reaction
