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Plot:
"The Last legion" is a fantasy action-adventure in the vein of "The
Sword and the Stone" set against the fall of Rome and its last emperor, 12 year-old Romulus Augustus, the boy who would rule for a...( read more 
)
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The Last Legion Recent Reviews
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:November 3, 2008a so so adventure film basically made for family viewing and with ben kingsley abnormally doing some pretty shit acting. colin firth... can't stand the fairy. a fairy holding a sword?? what's the world coming to?
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MCT:June 4, 2008"The legend began beneath these dark hills and under this same sky. It tells of a sword of great power, forged for the conqueror Julius Caesar. This weapon was passed down until it reached the last of Caesar's noble line, the emperor Tiberius. On his death. It was hidden away to keep it from the hands of evil men."
There are many adaptations and versions to the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, with Merlin the sorcerer, and of the magical sword Excalibur, some versions which set it into stone, while others, handed out by a lady in the water. The Last Legion is essentially touting a story about the beginnings of Excalibur and how it took to the former. However, it took a long route to tell this story, going all the way back to 400-something AD, a time where Rome is in turmoil.
Actually Rome is in turmoil ever since Julius Caesar got killed by friends, Romans, countrymen. In a time where generals scheme to usurp the throne and politicians of the Senate are corrupt as hell, it's little wonder why one of the best and most loyal Roman generals, Aurelius (Colin Firth) gets recalled to protect the rear of the new boy-king-god-Caesar Romulus Augustus, played by Thomas Sangster (the kid from Love Actually and Nanny McPhee). Naturally, the enemies spring a surprise attack, and our merry men have to flee Rome, and journey to Britain to regroup with the 9th Legion (henceforth also known as the "Last Legion"), encountering a wizard, not-yet-Merlin Ambrosinus (Ben Kingsley), and a mysterious lady warrior, Mira (Aishwarya Rai).
Like most medieval stories with elements of magic or involving the higher powers from Mount Olympus, The Last Legion does away with the sorcery portion, like what King Arthur and Troy had done, opting instead to focus more on reality, and what possibly could have been done without divine intervention, or fantastical assistance. Thus this makes Kingsley's role a little redundant, and relegates him into a fortune teller rather than an all powerful wizard, despite his garb looking a lot like Gandalf's.
While it could have gotten away with its material a couple of decades ago, unfortunately the stakes in the genre have been raised, and everyone's expecting a spectacle of huge armies battling in hand to hand combat, with its combatants having some form of fancy killing moves. The Last Legion pales in terms of providing that level of detail and spectacle, and chose instead to provide unsophisticated battle scenes, or swordplay that is a tad too uninspiring. Most of the fanciful moves were reserved for Aishwarya Rai, but even that too began to become repetitive. Not even her booby trapped enhanced short sword offered anything we're never seen before.
With characters you don't really care about, what made it a little unbearable amongst the good guys, was the totally hokey, unbelievable romance between Rai and Firth's characters. It doesn't mean that having characters from the opposite sex means they find each other irresistible and want to get into each other's pants. There is absolutely zero chemistry and zero build-up. One minute they're allies, the next they're admiring each other's swordplay, and then, playing some sort of seduction game. And if the villains justify what kind of heroes we get, then it's a no-brainer that they are bland and devoid of any interesting notion. World domination seems to be their only objective, and both the Romans and the British (using the term loosely here) villains are merely caricatures.
In terms of action, the film has some occasional bright spots. The fight sequences are reasonably well choreographed, though director Doug Lefler shoots them rather too closely at times and the editing is frantic. And I don't know if it was a post-production decision or not, but there are many instances where we cut away from the violence in a rather clunky manner; the blood and guts seem to have been sterilised somewhat.
Colin Firth, although looks the part, is bland as Aurelius and Ben Kingsley, with a far-from-good Welsh accent, fights a losing battle with the clumsily written role of Ambrosinus, the old teacher, but there are a couple of stand-out performances. Young Thomas Sangster is excellent as Romulus, capable of holding his own against the adult cast yet still revealing the vulnerability essential to his role. He looks all the more impressive in contrast to the awful, weeping child who plays his love interest. Aishwarya Rai, looking as beautiful as ever, gets the best of the action scenes and provides us with a remotely interesting character. Her mere presence is what truly elevates the film a bit and the reason why it gets an extra half-a-star from me.
The Last Legion is a film that takes itself too seriously while we in the audience don't. One action sequence halfway through has a fair amount of fun, but in the end simply depresses one because it is an indication of how much more fun the film could have been. As I said, while it might have worked 10 or 20 years ago, this film can't justify it being made now. It's suitable at most for that DVD rental for a lazy afternoon, but nothing more, and only if: 1) you have a huge crush on Aishwarya Rai or 2) you're in dire need of some, or any, form of entertainment. -
MCT:February 3, 2008Doesn't seem interesting.
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MCT:January 4, 2008The Last Legion is essentially touting a story about the beginnings of Excalibur and how it took to the former. The Last Legion does away with the sorcery portion, like what Troy and King Arthur had done, opting instead to focus more on reality, and what possibly could have been done without divine intervention, or fantastical assistance. Thus this makes Kingsley's role a little redundant, and relegates him into a fortune teller rather than an all powerful wizard, despite his garb looking a lot like Gandalf's. There is no gore, sex, or swearing, and whilst the fine cast will not win any Oscars for their performance, they did a fine job in fulfilling their roles, given the movies objectives.
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MCT:December 19, 2007
Surprisingly this was well made. The cast is pretty nice and the movie itself was enjoyable. I liked the whole Rome falling Arthur kinda theme. It's not a great movie by all means nut it was good and if you're not spoiled like most people you'll really enjoy this one.
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MCT:November 30, 2008
A rather OK movie. I expected a bit more from it, but I suppose it still did well.
The movie takes place during the time of fall of Roman Empire, about a young king Romulus and the Excalibur sword. It talks of how the whole Roman empire became pretty much against him and the remainder of his men, and now they must find a way out.
The battles were not bad. They were not as stunning as those in Troy or 300, but enjoyable to some degree.
The acting and story were OK too, again none really excel that much but they deliver what they were meant to deliver.
I'll advise you to only watch this film if you like movies of this genre, i.e. the epic ones full of ancient or medieval sword fighting battles.
Comments
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HoosierBear28posted 193 days ago -
its entertaining and thats what we need!!!action,comical humour,battles,historic theme an escape from the real world!!
posted 414 days ago -
Burn all copies of this film now!!! Only watch this film if u want to cringe yourself to death
posted 458 days ago -
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the film is based on a book by an italian writer, Valerio Massimo Manfredi...
posted 473 days ago -
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