Review of The Last Legion (2007) by William C — 28 Feb 2015

An unfortunate example of a tremendous missed opportunity. This story deserved a better screenplay and more sure-handed directing. "The Last Legion" possesses most of the ingredients needed to make for a Sid epic story (a woefully miscast Colin Firth aside) but it flounders in the no man's land between youthful adventure story and serious epic.

It doesn't possess the wit and charm necessary for the adventure mode, while lacking the necessary scale, length and visual panache for the epic route. A better, longer and developed script could have worked wonders for this film, but as is, "The Last Legion" isn't so much horrendously bad as it is painfully dull, satisfying neither itch.

There are stirrings of life towards the end of the film, with cinematography improving noticeably once entering Brittania, and a surprisingly stirring moment when the IX Legion arrives to battle in full Imperial regalia, and the fight choreography is surprisingly good as well, but the script bogs everything down in lifeless, predictable turns of events and dialogue.

Disappointing in its painful mediocrity, "The Last Legion" is all the more frustrating because of the occasional glimpses of what might have been (for crying out loud, they got Ben Kingsley to play Merlin!).