The Last Samurai is a film released in the United States on December 5, 2003. It is set in 1870s Japan and stars:
- Tom Cruise as Nathan Algren, an American Civil War veteran
- Ken Watanabe as samurai lord Katsumoto
- Masato Harada as industrialist and pro-reform politician Omura
- Shichinosuke Nakamura as Emperor Meiji of Japan
Algren goes to Japan to help the new Meiji government train its first Western-style army. He leads the army into battle with Katsumoto's men, is routed and captured, and learns the way of the samurai from his imprisonment in Katsumoto's isolated village. The movie's climax occurs as a rebel cavalry charge is stopped by Gatling guns.
Although many of the film's cast members are Japanese, the production crew is entirely American, and most of the movie was filmed in New Zealand.
