In The Last Samurai (2003), Tom Cruise played Captain Nathan Algren, an American military officer hired to train Japan’s new army during the Meiji Restoration, who is captured by samurai rebels and comes to respect their way of life. Directed by Edward Zwick, the film follows Algren as he learns the samurai code and chooses to fight alongside them in their final battle.
Cruise gave Algren a weary, honourable presence, a man seeking redemption after his past in the American Indian wars. The film was a commercial success and earned Academy Award nominations, including for its supporting performance by Ken Watanabe.
The Last Samurai remains a signature Cruise role because it showed him in an epic, historical register, and because Algren’s journey from outsider to samurai ally gave the film its emotional core.