Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

The Last Legion (2007)

Director: Doug Lefler

2
Average user rating
1 review

Synopsis

This fantasy action-adventure zeroes in on the last emperor of ancient Rome, 12 year-old Romulus Augustus (Thomas Sangster), the boy who would rule for a day before losing everything: his family, his home and an empire. Imprisoned on the island-fortress of Capri, Romulus discovers "excaliburnus," the legendary sword of Julius Caesar. Aided by his teacher Ambrosinus (Ben Kingsley) and the heroic skills of his loyal legionnaire Aurelius (Colin Firth), Romulus escapes the island to search for to fabled Dragon Legion – the warrior that will help him enter legend with a valiant last stand to save Rome.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Crudely mangling Arthurian legend into Roman history, this creaky swords ’n’ sandals romper trundles forward like a hurriedly upholstered TV movie. No surprise, then, to find director Doug Lefler cut his teeth on ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’. He plays this hokum straight as an arrow as a scrawny, boy-emperor (Thomas ‘Love Actually’ Sangster) tries to find a mythical sword, avenge his parents’ murder and save Rome from marauders led by Peter Mullan. Protecting him are Colin Firth as the gruff commander, Ben Kingsley as the sagely magician and Bollywood siren Aishwarya Rai as a swashbuckling Red Sonja. Bankrolled by the De Laurentiis clan, production values are half-decent, but bar the odd flashes of finger-hacking violence, this is an oafish regression from the epic quest fantasies of ‘Lord of the Rings’ and the blood-rinsed digital canvas of ‘300’.

Author: Jonathan Crocker 2007-10-16 10:33:15

Time Out London Issue 1939: October 17-23 2007

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

User reviews of this film

  • Anne said...
    Posted on Feb 04 2009 18:32 This movie was lame. I guess it's ok for children, but I was expecting more from a movie with an Acadamy Award Winner. Anyway, the story, script, and fight scenes were wear and predictable.
    Report as inappropriate

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


The Last Legion

Watch Trailer 1

Cast & crew

Director: Doug Lefler

Cast: Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya Rai, John Hannah, Peter Mullan, Kevin McKidd, Iain Glen, Thomas Sangster, Rupert Friend, Nonso Anozie, Owen Teale, Alexander Siddig, James Cosmo full cast

Genre(s): Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Duration: 102 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.