The Last Legionby Marissa SammyReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Studio
Credits Grade: 6 It would be easy to pick apart the historical problems with this movie (particularly for an Arthurian nut of South Asian descent like me), but I figure that a viewer has to approach The Last Legion the way they'd approach, say, the BBC's Merlin: with a yearly salary's worth of salt.So the story, basically, is mostly about a Very Special Sword, the child-Caesar who finds and retrieves it under the tutelage of a wise sage, and the group of warriors who protect him while he flees a sacked Rome. We have the perennially solemn-faced Thomas Sangster as the child Romulus, which works well with Ben Kingsley as his fond and mysterious teacher Ambrosinus. Veteran Roman Kevin McKidd turns up here as a brutal Goth bent on killing the child. I like all of these actors, so it was fun watching them chew through the candy apple coating of this movie. The casting that surprised me the most was Aishwarya Rai as the warrior Mira; I usually find her hamminess distracting, but here she was gorgeous to watch in action and really the most interesting and appealing character. On the flip side, the worst casting was Colin Firth playing against type as General Aurelius, because a less impressive legionary would be hard to imagine. He strove for epic and came off the same rather baffled and ineffectual chap he plays in all his movies, right down to his voice cracking ridiculously during what's supposed to be a stirring speech to his troops as they're about to die. The fact that Rome's Lucius Vorenus — a far better centurion than Aurelius even when he's a Goth — faces off against him in the film was a grave error on the director's part, because it just reminds anybody who's seen Rome what one of their soldiers is supposed to be. At any rate, this movie's a fun way to spend a couple of hours, particularly if you want something family-friendly and you don't get too much in a tizzy over silly versions of this particular history and mythology. I could have done without the way that they seemed to have Mira either wet or oiled for many of her scenes, but to be honest I was just so delighted that they included a heroic Indian character without a bunch of stereotypical or racist nonsense that I just didn't care too much. Also my elderly parents referred to Ben Kingsley as "Gandhi" through the whole movie, so I guess they enjoyed it too, heh. Written: November 29, 2009
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