Character-driven, inspiring

Rating: 9/10 (16 August 2008)

After reading several bad reviews of "The Last Legion", I was prepared for a very bad film indeed -- but instead, I found a good one. The performance of Ben Kingsley as the wise man Ambrosinus would, alone, have made the movie worthwhile. His Ambrosinus is a man of warm quiet confidence -- someone who is totally his own man -- a hint of humor glowing beneath. A convincing performance.
The performances of all major characters were fine or adequate. The least realistic character, of course, is Mira. While women have fought alongside men through the centuries when their lands were threatened, a professional warrior woman in this period is not realistic -- though Aishwarya Rai's performance made the character as realistic as it could be. The romance between Mira and Aurelius was mainly unconvincing to me, but fortunately not too obtrusive, and there are one or two good moments in their romantic interplay.
The relative lack of special effects was no problem at all for me: I saw the movie as mainly character driven, with good action sequences and surprisingly good dialog -- even inspiring. And that was the overall effect of the movie for me: inspiring.