not bad... (plot details mentioned)

Rating: 7/10 (25 October 2007)

The Last Leigon tells the story of the new emperor Romulus Augustus, a child forced to flee Rome after the Goths invade. With a loyal general with a handful of men, an Indian warrior, and a mentor figure they head to Britain to find the last legion (the 9th) and hopefully restore the empire, carrying a legendary sword made for Julius Ceasar...
This movie, like the recent KING ARTHUR movie claims to tell the story behind the legend of King Arthur. Unlike that movie, this one seems aimed at a slightly younger crowd, mainly as it follows the child emperor as much as his general. The trailer is misleading however, as Arthur doesn't feature in the movie until the end.
Despite this however, I really enjoyed the movie. Thomas Sangster as the young emperor does well, Ben Kingsley seems to be enjoying himself as the mentor/teacher figure (you can guess his other character name easily!), Aishwarya Rai as the Indian woman Mira is good, handling the action quite well. But the surprise here is Colin Firth. Best known for things like Pride & Pedujice, or the Bridget Jones movies. But here, he convinces as the roman general Aurelius and does very well in the action set-pieces. The only time he fails to convince is when he has to give a speech to rally his troops.
Like most movies of this type it's crammed with British actors, though I don't think it's a British movie. Peter Mulan, Kevin McKidd, James Cosmo, John Hannah are just some of those involved. This did get me wondering if this movie was edited down from perhaps a mini-series, or the film was much longer, as some actors only have a handful of lines.
Doug Lefler directs well, though there are a couple of shots that look like out-takes from Lord Of The Rings (not a bad thing mind you!).He handles the action well, if at times it is a little rushed in scenes. He directs the actors well, and although not a long running time, does allow time for little character moments through-out the movie, and does allow for little moments of humour to develop.
The movie does end on a moment that brought some groan from the audience I was at, but I'll forgive it that as over all I found the movie enjoyable and fun.
And there haven't been many of those this summer.