Hans Zimmer - The Last Samurai [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

List Price: $18.98
Our Price: $5.53
You Save: $13.45 (71%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.43 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details

CD Details

• SOUNDTRACK THE LAST SAMURAI

Music reviews of The Last Samurai [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Music Review: Last Samurai
Rating: 5 Stars

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.

Description of The Last Samurai [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Pop CDs

• Music > Styles
• Soundtracks