Film: The Last Legion

Director: Dough Lefler

Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Sir Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth, Thomas Sangster

Rating: 1/5

B.O.R.I.N.G! The Last Legion is more of a meek ho-hum flick, rather than being one overwhelming adventure. This film is built on a ground of a misfit cast and a sleepy editor.

So, like all historic legends this one too belongs to an era, very long ago. Young Romulus Agustus (Thomas Sangster) is crowned as Ceaser, the ruler of the entire Roman Empire. While the empire is crumbling and young Cceasers life is in great danger (yawn!) it is up to ace Kalaripattu (Keralite martial arts) expert, Mira (Aishwariya Rai) and warrior Aurelius (Colin Firth) to protect the young king. They head on an expedition to garner support from the ninth legion, so that they may defeat Vortgyn. Leading the way through the tough times and treacherous days is philosopher and teacher, Ambrosinus (Sir Ben Kingsley)

If you have survived reading the synopsis you know for certain that the entire plot is warped and banal. Leading through from a Roman story right down to the story of King Arthur and the Excalibur (see sword and the stone), the film not only taxes the eyes but aces in getting the mind restless as well.  There is far too much that needs to be given the benefit of doubt here and truly its asking for a lot.

The dialogues are weak and lack any emotion or at the least the punch to sound remotely entertaining. With so many different accents being thrown at you, little do you understand, even the few lines that might make some sense. It is simply hard, in fact impossible to believe that this film took over four years to conceive.

Characters created are so superficial that they might very well be used as teaching aids in the ‘what not to do’ schools. There lacks depth and conviction in each created character. Above and over that each actor that has been cast fits the role in a manner that gloves fit the feet.

One of the biggest bohoo’s the film offers are the cold and almost forceful action sequences.  The stunts are like watching two or more toddlers fighting with whatever they manage to grab from around. And evidently Rai and Firth seem to be struggling with all the quick movements and expression.

While the camerawork is OK, the editing is sorry. It seems like the film has been chopped and fixed at random. The build up that films like Troy, 300, LOTR or even Braveheart offered are totally amiss. You know for sure a lot has gone into the DI work simply because it is everywhere in the film, right from making the sky darker to enhancing the light from the lamp. There is so much of this that soon enough the reality that it is meant to bring is suspended.

Costumes seem as though they were generously borrowed from various other films; Rai looked like hers were borrowed from the movie Sahara while Firth had the Troy look going for him. Kingsley’s on the other hand seemed to have been picked up from the sets of LOTR.

The only plus the movie has to offer is the little music you hear and perhaps the interval.

Certainly you don’t expect a lot from misfit actors. While Sangster is the only OK performer, the others manage to make you cringe with the ham filled acting. Kingsley doing the teacher act is the least most entertaining, that of course until the other characters are introduced. Rai is stunning but the moment she is asked to act, she conjures up all the expressions she has been delivering right from Iruvar to Guru. It’s a bland performance that she puts up. Firth tries real hard but misses by a long shot, his dialogue delivery makes you smile more than doing anything else.

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