The Last Samurai [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

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...Read more

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,...Read more

Just by listening to the music makes me emotional. The movie wouldn't have been the same without this music collection. It's been over half a year of owning this sound track, I'm still not bored of it.