The Last Legion (2007)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Doug Lefler

Writers (WGA):

Jez Butterworth (screenplay) &
Tom Butterworth (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 August 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | War

Tagline:

Before King Arthur, there was Excalibur.

Plot:

As the Roman empire crumbles, young Romulus Augustus flees the city and embarks on a perilous voyage to Britain to track down a legion of supporters.

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | Capri | Roman Empire | Roman Legion | Emperor

Awards:

2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Thur. July 9

9:15 AM

MAX

Cast

Colin Firth	...	Aurelius
Ben Kingsley	...	Ambrosinus / Merlin
Aishwarya Rai	...	Mira
Peter Mullan	...	Odoacer
Kevin McKidd	...	Wulfila
John Hannah	...	Nestor
Iain Glen	...	Orestes
Thomas Sangster	...	Romulus Augustus
Rupert Friend	...	Demetrius
Nonso Anozie	...	Batiatus
Owen Teale	...	Vatrenus
Alexander Siddig	...	Theodorus Andronikos
Robert Pugh	...	Kustennin
James Cosmo	...	Hrothgar
Harry Van Gorkum	...	Vortgyn

Also Known As:

L'ultima legione (Italy)
La dernière légion (France)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence.

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

UK | Italy | France | Tunisia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Netherlands:12 | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | UK:12A | France:Unrated | Ireland:12A | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-13 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Cerveny Castle, Pezinok, Slovakia

Company:

Dino De Laurentiis Company

Trivia:

Director Doug Lefler managed to get all of the family of Thomas Sangster in the film (uncredited). At 01:01:10 Thomas' mother Anastasia is shown hugging Kustennin, commander of the Ninth Legion, and again at 01:09:40 as Ygraine's mother. At 01:03:25 Thomas' younger sister Ava is shown as the first Celtic girl in the scene where Ambrosinus explains the heritage of Caesar's sword. At 01:10:48 in the background by Kunstennin, as the blacksmith begins stating his view of Romulus living among them, is Thomas' father Mark.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: As Romulus passes Caesar's guard in the coronation procession (at 00:09:56), Demetrius mouths the words "We're dead." (In the DVD commentary it is explained that "we took it out just because it was too soft to be heard over the noise of the procession and the music.")

Quotes:

[after Wulfila kills Orestes]
Hrothgar: Odoacer wants the boy alive!
Wulfila: I'll do my best.

Movie Connections:

References Love Actually (2003)

Not a bad take on the origins of Authurian Legend...

Somehow I missed the trailers and promotion of this film. Normally I see most movies like this right away, but I didn't get to see this one until just yesterday.

If you are going in looking for a historically accurate film then you are waisting your time with ANY Hollywood movie. But this one doesn't have anything that ruined my suspension of belief at all. One of my biggest pet peeves is when a movie misses something obvious (Like Romans using stirrups on their horses, yes I am looking at you Gladiator!) but this movie didn't have one of those.

The fighting styles that they gave the characters, while flashed up for filming, were believable for the cultures that they came from (A Roman Cataract using Japanese sword techniques! Come on King Arthur!) and while I wouldn't rank the fight scenes anywhere near anything done by Wu Ping, they again don't take away from the story.

Now the story its self is where I have some problems. They seemed to rush it most of the way. I almost wish that they had made it a mini-series on TV just so they could have told the whole thing. I think that there is some missing story that I would like to hear, like the origins of the villain and where he got his scars and what not.

Anyway, just don't go into it with any expectations and I think that you will enjoy yourself for an hour and a half.