THE LAST LEGION
movie review by David Blackwell


110 minutes, PG-13

STARRING John Hannah, Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth, Aishwarya Rai, Thomas Sangster, peter Mullan
WRITTEN by Jez Butterworth and Tom Butterworth
DIRECTED by Doug Lefler
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

STUDIO: THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY/ Dino De Laurentiis Company/ Quinta Communications/ Zephyr Films Ltd
Theatrical RELEASE DATE: 8-17-2007

A cast of John Hannah, Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth, Aishwarya Rai, Thomas Sangster, Alexander Siddig, and Iain Glen cannot save THE LAST LEGION being more than an average or below average twist on the King Arthur myth. THE LAST LEGION should have had a more developed story. It is the type of story that deserved a miniseries or a 3 hour runtime due to all of the the things that go on as it is a series of cliches. I felt like I was being thrust from event to event in THE LAST LEGION without good material to bridge some parts of the plot. it is entertaining enough, but it is only worth a DVD rental or a late-night viewing on a cable movie channel.

THE LAST LEGION starts with the Goths threatening to invade Rome in the late 5th century which they do after Romulus Augustus (Thomas Sangster) is made the latest Emperor/ Caesar. Romulus is captured and taken to a prison island with his magician teacher Ambrosinus (Ben Kingsley) who is obviously Merlin. Soon Romulus happens to find a mystical sword made for Julius Caesar that is you know what. He and his teacher are rescued by his army of guards (with Aishwarya Rai tagging along as kick ass warrior from India via Turkey). Then they're off to Britainna to find the last Roman legion. The Goths are following and they make an allaince with evil King Vortgyn (who has been terrorizing the land of Great Britain). So you can see it is just a B-movie cliche twixt of the King Arthur myth. Wait for DVD or cable/Satellite to see this one.

this movie review is (c)8-28-2007 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com