The Last Legion (2007)

I typically don't add a review when there are already more than 100. But in this case I'm going to because I think this film is overrated. Oh, I'm not saying this is a great epic about the Roman Empire. It's not. I don't think it's too faithful to history, but good enough to be called historical fiction. What I do think it is, is a good adventure film. Just don't take it so seriously. What made me laugh was that in the blurb I read about it, it said it was a "cut rate" adventure film; apparently only spending $67 million in 2007 was "cut rate"; only in America.You have a decent cast here. Colin Firth plays Aurelius, a military leader charged with the responsibility of protecting the young Romulus. He's good here, and it's nice to see Firth in a different kind of role than we usually do. Thomas Brodie-Sangster does fairly well as the young Romulus Augustulus. Ben Kingsley is decent as a druid who also protects and teaches the boy. Perhaps most interesting is Aishwarya Rai -- my favorite female Indian actress -- as a female warrior.The plot is decent. The young Romulus has been crowned the new head of the Roman Empire, but shortly after that his mother and father are murdered and he is kidnapped. Obviously, a rescue is needed. Thereby the action.What's wrong with this film? Well, I think for many it's the idea that any film about the Roman Empire -- even a fictional story -- is supposed to be filmed in great grandeur. This is filmed well, but not on a grand scale.This won't end up on my DVD shelf, but it's a good film (not a great film). I'm glad I watched it. Might watch it again some day.

THE LAST LEGION is a semi-realistic historical fantasy based on a novel by popular Italian historical novelist Valerio Massimo Manfredi. It's a story that attempts to merge both Roman history and Arthurian legend, and although it's not always entirely believable, it does have a fast pace to take your mind off the unbelievable bits.One of the worst things about this film is the cheap and cheerful direction, which makes it look like a B-movie. I wasn't surprised to find out that director Doug Lefler cut his teeth on both HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS and XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS, because THE LAST LEGION looks a lot like those shows and has the same kind of shaky, bloodless action scenes.However, the film does have a great cast going on it with nearly ever role in the film occupied by familiar faces. GAME OF THRONES fans are in for a particular treat with parts for Iain Glen, Nonso Anozie, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, James Cosmo, Robert Pugh, Alexander Siddig, and Owen Teale. SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND star John Hannah plays virtually the same role as in that show, and ROME's Kevin McKidd is the bad guy. The major roles are claimed by Colin Firth, who never really convinces as an action hero, and Ben Kingsley, reliably entertaining as the wise old sage. Meanwhile, Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai plays the token female role, unbelievable in the fight scenes but heavily sexualised throughout, much like Keira Knightley in KING ARTHUR. THE LAST LEGION isn't a great film, but it's a passable time filler and just watching all those familiar faces filled me with joy.

The year is 460 A.D., Rome is weak and a new child emperor is crowned. Rome soon falls to the Goths, and the emperor is taken prisoner. All that's left is a handful of men who are obligated by duty to rescue him. The men are led by Aurelius (Colin Firth) and the emperor's mysterious former guardian Ambrosinus (Ben Kingsley). They travel to Britannia to find The Last Legion that could be counted on to be loyal to the emperor.From there, it becomes ridiculous and tries to tie in another legendary story. Whole sections are rushed or skipped. The action is passable but lack drama. There are many plot holes. Logic is thrown out the window. They bend over backwards to try and close this story loop. It's more awkward than poetic as may be hoped.

I wanted to like this movie more than I did. I'm normally a sucker for these kind of historical romantic fantasies. But I think it had several problems. Much of it might be due to the use of music. The score seemed 1) Kind of dated (could be because another reviewer said it was a shameless copy of Manon Lescaut by Puccini) but it just didn't have a contemporary feel to the mood it tried to set ... like something Williams or Silvestri would have composed. And 2) It was ubiquitous! Every time the kid picked his nose, the "hero" music would start up. It was just WAY over used. It started feeling like an old Cecil B. DeMille technicolor "over the top" epic where the color is TOO rich and the music TOO inspiring.Lefler might've done well to remember that sometimes "less is more."The plot was a little formulaic as well with it's cast of characters. The love story subplot seemed forced to me. I didn't get ANY chemistry from the two. Mira had more outfit changes than Lady Gaga at the Oscars. And the storyline could have been told with a little more mystery in it's pacing perhaps .... but that damn "hero's score" swelling to a crescendo every 90 seconds just ruined it for me.All in all, it's watchable and a fun rollick ... but it's not the epic it could have been with a few changes. Perhaps even with just a change in the music.