It's Whitaker's Movie

Rating: 7/10 (12 July 2007)

Never before has a film in modern history been dominated by a performance from its lead actor . That actor is Forest Whitaker who picked up EVERY best actor award for this film . Whitaker gives an absolutely towering performance and the only other chilling and dominating performance I can think of that comes close to it in recent years is Bruno Ganz as Adolph Hitler in DER UNTERGANG
Unfortunately while Whitaker is the most compelling thing about THE LAST KING he's the only compelling thing about the movie . James McAvoy and the rest of the cast aren't too bad but they all play either unsympathetic or totally uninteresting characters which means you find yourself looking at your watch wondering how long you'll be waiting for the next appearance of Field Marshal Idi Amin to sort out those " bad mommas " . None of this helped by the screenplay structure and despite a scene of hideous torture that seems inspired by A MAN CALLED HORSE you get the feeling that the producers didn't know how to end the story