I'm glad it's the last one ...

Rating: 3/10 (13 October 2007)

Ever since "Braveheart" in 1995 and "Gladiator" in the year 2000, Hollywood has noticed that making similar movies is a secure bet. However: this is not always the case. Sometimes they are very spectacular to watch and become very fine movies indeed. Such examples are "King Arthur", "Troy" and "The Lord of the rings". But every now and then, they screw up and the movies that were supposed to be impressive blockbusters become nothing more than the most expensive fiasco of that year. Two such letdowns are "Alexander" and Kingdom of heaven".
I'm sure that "The last legion" wanted to be amongst the finest of its kind, but it ends up being the total opposite. It's an expensive waste of talent. The movie is monotonous and the so-called deadly duels seem like sparring compared to the ones in "Gladiator". The only sort of interest is Bollywood-actress Aishwarya Rai who plays the part of Mira. Besides the fact that she is truly beautiful, she is also the only one whose fighting seems genuine. Colin Firth should stick to romantic comedies or social dramas because he doesn't seem to know how to handle a sword. His acting is OK though; it's just that his fighting isn't any good. Ben Kingsley has already impressed us in classic films such as "Gandhi" and "Schindler's list" but here he plays a character who seems to be the brother of Gandalf. And then there's also John Hannah; another great British actor who's been given nothing to work with and thus ends up falling short like pretty much everybody else in this doomed picture.
In short: If this is the today's standard for future battle movies, then I truly hope this is ... the last legion.