Tom Cruise stars as Captain Nathan Algren in this epic movie set in 1870s Japan. Hired to instruct the country's new army in the ways of modern warfare, Algren learns to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy their way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself, to be loyal, selfless and true, and to fight for the samurai's right to exist.