4 Thumbs Up!!

Rating: 9/10 (2 September 2007)

We (my wife and I) just came back from seeing "The Last Legion" and were *thoroughly* entertained!! The film kept a good pace and I never looked at my watch and my mind never wandered - the comedy was just enough to make you laugh here and there, and the action was well-planned and executed. We weren't sure from reading initial reviews that we wanted to see it in the theater, but it was worth a shot. As fans of movies like "Beowulf and Grendel", "King Arthur", I can say that for me, "The Last Legion" could go "sword to sword" with "Excalibur". While it does not exactly dove-tail into the Athurian Legend, it makes a pretty good go of it.
If you know the legend of King Arthur, well, I guess, you can say that every legend has a 'legend' And when I saw the sword go up into the air I knew it would end up in the stone. And I had my suspicions early on that the "old sorcerer" might turn out to be "Merlin".
The actors (as noted) played their parts well and brought this film off without being too pompous, fake, or full of themselves. The dialog was fine by *any* standards and it wasn't overly bloody or violent. To be sure, the 5th century WAS a violent time, and the Roman Empire was a tottering ghost of it's former self. Don't worry too much about the historical inaccuracies - remember, the first rule of watching ANY film is "suspension of disbelief"....if you want history then watch "The History Channel".
I would have liked to see Russel Crowe in the lead, but 1) they probably could not afford him and 2) how to you top "Gladiator"? The location shooting in Tunisia, Slovakia and "Brittania" was beautiful, and the camera work was excellent. Many directors choose to make films today that are dimly-lit, with jerky-hand held filming, and washed-out. This wasn't one of them. We go to see a film to be entertained for two hours (or so). I consider a film that does that to be success. This film may not win any Oscars, but we'll buy the DVD when it becomes available. It's worth the price of admission.