The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai (2003)

4 mistakes since 28 Jan '17, 00:00

(11 votes)

Continuity mistake: Tom Cruise has a cushion on his seat when he is taken to meet the Japanese delegation in restaurant at the beginning, maybe to make up for his small stature. The first shot shows no extra cushion but on sitting there is one there. (00:06:20)

Factual error: In the scene before the Americans are to be introduced to the emperor, they are told that the "Meiji" emperor is reform minded. However, Meiji is a posthumous era name, in other words, given after the emperor's death, which occurred many years later, whereas he is still very young in the period depicted.

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Suggested correction: They are using modern terms and words so that the film and characters are easier to understand.

Greg Dwyer

It doesn't change the fact that this is a factual error, no matter the reason behind it.

Epigenis

Yes it does. Almost nobody outside Japan would have known the name "Mutsuhito." Films often use modern terminology to make things easier for audiences to understand. Like saying "vegetarian" instead of the older term "Pythagorean."

LorgSkyegon

Continuity mistake: In the ninja attack scene, when Tom Cruise stabs a ninja in the chest, in one shot the sword is poking out his back, but in the very next shot, it isn't.

MikeH

Factual error: At the start of the movie when Algren first lands in Japan there are power lines. The movie is set in 1876, 2 years before being introduced to Japan in 1878.

Emperor Meiji: I have dreamed of a unified Japan. Of a country strong and independent and modern. We have railroads and cannon, Western clothing. But we cannot forget who we are. Or where we come from.

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Trivia: All the ninja seen in the film were played by actual modern day practitioners of the ninjitsu arts. Allegedly this led to a running joke on set where if the ninja were rehearsing with a stunt double or an extra they would spontaneously perform a kill move (obviously stopping before actually hitting their opponent) then remind everyone they were only contracted to let Tom Cruise live through the movie. Everyone else, as far as they were concerned, was fair game.

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Chosen answer: I'm not 100% sure, but I think it may have been Jim Cummings. He does a lot of voiceovers for movie trailers, cartoon characters, songs and the like. He's the voice of Cat in CatDog, Winnie the Pooh, Tasmanian Devil and has had small roles in films like Shrek, Sinbad and Antz. Find out more about him at this address: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0191906/.

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