The Last Samurai [ENHANCED] [SOUNDTRACK]

Hans Zimmer (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 25, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Soundtrack
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B0000DZTIW
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,810 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Whether Tom Cruise's portrayal of a 19th century American soldier cum samurai warrior will be remembered with the same pangs of pop-cultural bemusement that befell John Wayne playing Genghis Khan remains to be seen. But its musical soundtrack does mark an auspicious occasion: pop musician-turned-composer Hans Zimmer's 100th score since beginning his film career in 1988. A pioneer of fusing both the electronic and orchestral and the Westernized with the indigenous, Zimmer does both here with skill, drawing heavily on samples of the traditional Taiko (a massive Japanese drum) for its rhythmic action sequences, while constructing a melodic Western motif for Cruise's character that's both centerpiece and counterpoint for the score's transcultural intent. Aside from the brief, ominous thunder of the expected action/suspense boilerplate, Zimmer has constructed passages of gentle, Asian-inflected pastoralism that have parallels with much of his evocative work on The Thin Red Line. Those cues are the score's very soul, a canvas against which his more traditional themes reverberate all the stronger. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Last Samurai, December 8, 2003

By	"reel07" (Sad Hill Cemetery) - See all my reviews

Zimmer's new score for the epic canvas of a film is truly a revelation. This is among Zimmer's finest music, though that is becoming a cliche these days with him. He just keeps getting better and better, borrowing from his old works, inverting them and turning them into something new and refreshing, but just new enough to know that what you're listening to is the great Hans Zimmer. This soundtrack brings to mind the vivid imagery of the film (the battlefields, colorful villages perched upon serene mountain tops, many other images reminiscent of Kurosawa's films), but even better, just like of Zimmer's other great works, the music has a life of its own. You can take this music and apply it to your own life.

Every track is fantastic. Each manages to have the reflective, weepy, and somber strings of "Thin Red Line" mixed in with the dramatic punches of "Pearl Harbor, Crimson Tide, Gladiator" and many of his other works. But those who loved the profound depth of "Thin Red Line" FANS WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED. The non-action music has the same beautiful melodies of his work from that soundtrack, except that it has its own distinct own voice. Zimmer sprinkles the entire soundtrack with wonderful flavors from Japan, but not too much. He applies just the right amount, without turning the music into stereotypical international fluff. He goes beyond the borders of cultures, just as he did in Thin Red Line, and finds that place that is within every person's soul and expresses it with his masterful command of strings.

The action cues are amazing. They are memorable and impossible to forget; very heroic and powerful without being too contrived. the bridge between track 10 and 11 sounds JUST like the bridge in THIN RED LINE tracks 8 and 9.

Track 1: "A way of life" has great cues that sound like ponderous Thin Red line and then heroic cues sounding like Gladiator and even a little black hawk down.

"Spectres in the fog" starts off with a nice meoldy that is one of the main themes in the soundtrack the turns into a grat action piece

"Taken" has an adventure feel reprising the action main theme

"a hard teacher" is a lot like "light" from thin red line; thinking melodic music

"to know my enemy" is a good dramatic piece and gets very good and dramatic near the end

"Idyll's end" is another great one; starts off very subtle and beautifully melodic then turns into a great heroic theme with shades of gladiator

"safe passage" is a weepy melancholy tune that has shades of the "attack" from pearl harbor

"ronin" is a great short track that starts out sof then jumps to some of the loudest finest percussion beats youll ever hear, slightly echoing the heroism of black hawk down and gladiator.

"red warrior" is a great action track that sets the scene for the big battle

"the way of the sword" is a great action adrenaline-pumping track with equally great melodies. the part from 2:45 to 4:50 is truly powerful and when you match it with the specific scene from the film, you'll know what I mean. a great "dying on the battlefield song" What follows is similar to the high blissful strings that wrap up "journey to the line" soaring to the highest peaks.

"a small measure of peace" is the last track and brings great closure to the CD with beautiful and haunting melodies, a la thin red line once again. reprises the quiet subtle theme that is present in track 1 and track 6.

well thats the lowdown. obviously I can't recommend it enough, fans of Hans Zimmer/ film scores or not. This is good music for anything; workout, doing work, thinking and reflecting on life. I've already listened to it about 8 times and it truly gets better every tinme I hear it. Very haunting melodic and beautiful zimmer has outdone himself once again. I didnt think he could do it after black hawk down, gladiator, and thin red line. as I said, all of these songs sound like his previous works, except they all have a new refreshing sound and a slight Japanese flavor thrown in there. A great CD not just for the sake of the film, but for anythin outside of it.

48 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Last Samurai VS. The Return of the King, April 7, 2004

By	Dr. Christopher Coleman (HONG KONG) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Last year was the year of big budget epics for Hollywood. No expense was spared for lavish spectacle, elaborate costuming, awe-inspiring battle scenes, and more. And Hollywood knows that in spite of tremendous attention to visuals, it can all fall flat without the right soundtrack. George Lucas even admitted that Star Wars would have been nothing without John Williams' music. Hans Zimmer, in his score to The Last Samurai proves once again he's one of the best film composers working today. He complements the visual and dramatic aspects of the film superbly, as in the track Spectres in the Fog. Listen, and you can practically picture the action, even if you've never seen the film. After an introduction featuring Japanese plucked strings, the opening is haunting and mysterious, from which emerges a heroic theme played in the horns.

I was interested to compare this soundtrack to that for another, contemporaneous "Big Spectacle" film-Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King, with music by Howard Shore. If you compare Spectres in the Fog to Shore's Minas Tirith, you'll hear that the gesture is identical--the emergence from a mysterious, static texture of a noble theme in the horns, accompanied by the drums of war. Both soundtracks owe much to the heritage of Richard Wagner and are practically textbooks in composing for film. Anyone interested in learning that art would do well to study them in detail. One significant difference between the two scores is the basic orchestration-naturally enough The Last Samurai includes Japanese instruments, and blends them beautifully with a Western orchestra. Since Middle Earth doesn't actually exist, Shore had no authentic instruments to draw from, and relies instead on a large Western orchestra, but occasionally has the instrumentalists perform in unusual ways, creating unique tone colors, as in Minas Morgul.

But perhaps the biggest difference between the two soundtrack CDs, other than Shore's Oscar, is the overall tone. The Return of the King soundtrack is action-filled, exciting and even, for some, nerve-wracking. The Steward of Gondor is a telling example-while it's a beautiful ballad, Shore adds growing string clusters behind the voice to create a sense of impending doom. Zimmer's score is more consistently introspective. For the most part it concentrates on wistful melancholy and loss rather than the fury of battle-this is especially true of the soundtrack CD. A Small Measure of Peace epitomises this tone beautifully, while The Way of the Sword is its most dramatic contrast. Those who prefer their music peaceful and meditative will love The Last Samurai and perhaps be driven mad by Return of the King. Personally I prefer Shore's work somewhat, although still admiring Zimmer's greatly. Perhaps Howard Shore was the Oscar winner because he works with a much broader palate-more themes and a wider range of techniques including some very contemporary ones that would surely alienate many audience members if heard in concert with no visual context. By contrast, The Last Samurai relies too much on a single theme. It's lovely beyond question, and noble when played by horns, and courageous when played by trumpets, but after a point, many of the tracks on the CD start to seem indistinguishable. Nonetheless, why Zimmer didn't even get an Oscar nomination escapes me.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, powerful, tragic and emotional--a MUST HAVE!, December 17, 2003

By	Amy "Priori2ude" (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews

The music of The Last Samurai is written with giant sweeping melodies set in a tragic background. So moving are they that the music seems to squeeze and almost strangle your heart. The main character theme that appears in the beginning of the soundtrack sets the tone of emotion and becomes stronger and even more poignant in the complete context of the soundtrack as it reappears throughout. You can almost sense the entire drama in the score itself, it is so telling. The narrative string melody on top of the heart-wrenching basses is reminiscent of Barber's "Adagio for Strings" and will send chills throughout your body culminating slowly in somber yet powerful and inspiring notes that literally bring tears to your eyes. Also, the percussion builds into such a stirring climax to the point where you almost cannot breathe. The Red Warrior track features the Samurai "kiyai" (similar to a battle cry) that truly gives you an inspired sense of their purpose in the battles of the movie. Hans Zimmer truly has a gift for dramatic musical scoring as was soundly proved with the soundtrack for Gladiator. I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone, regardless of whether or not you've seen the movie.