The Last Legion

Whoa action and fantasy, tied legends together in a novel way. Loved it. Bridging Rome and the Arthurian legend together - a prequel to King Arthur of sorts, with Merlin, and the origin of the sword in the stone.

wonderful action movie with heroic battle scenes and plenty of humor. A film that does not take itself too seriously but a good diversion for an hour or so!

The first time I saw this film, seeing that it had Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley, I expected a fairly serious action film concerning the ending of Roman Britain. Likely, I thought, around 383 A.D. when Magnus Maximus depleted Britain of moist of its troops to fight the Western Emperor Gratian to become a usurper emperor for a few years. Alas, this was not so, and I was terribly disappointed. The history was total fantasy except for a few names, and I mean really fabricated even beyond the usual.I disliked the cookie cutter, made-for-movie demographics cast as well. Let's see. There are two noted British actors of high repute to give the movie respectability. Then there's a kid for the young audience, a young guy for the ladies who looks a bit too much like a hunky Orlando Bloom, A mighty black Warrior, and of course a major female character who today must be an incredibly adept Warrior Maiden and not simply a romantic interest. Actually, that's not so bad, though at first I hated it and it's a bit too required by now. Still, it's better to see a woman as more than a pretty piece of baggage that has to be rescued all the time.But recently, since it was free on Prime, I decided to see it again, and this time I found it very fun. The movie works if you see it forewarned. First of all it's really meant for young adolescents; a film for those around the same age as Thomas Sangster, who plays Romulus Augustulus. So you forget everything you know about history and accept the story for what it is uncritically, as if you were thirteen. Once you drop history and accept the conventions of a young person's film, it's pretty fun. Sangster, from Love Actually, has done rather well lately in The Maze Runner films, Game of Thrones and Wolf Hall.It was made with a fairly substantial budget, so it looks pretty good for a light adventure film. The acting is just okay, a bit disappointing considering the talent, but the script is all action-fantasy cliche so there's not much for them to do. Made in the afterglow of the Lord of the Rings, there's a great deal of influence of that great epic here, though oddly, no real magic except for a certain sword.The movie did little box office, but seems to live on in DVD and streaming, probably on the presence of Firth and Kingsley who at least took their roles seriously and don't phone-in their performances. I'm afraid the box cover will draw a crowd that expects a more serious film, however. The historical mistakes don't bother me, even though Roman history is something on which I've read many books. Real Roman history would be too hard to put on screen for the audience. Just the fact that most of the Roman Army by this time was made up of barbarian mercenaries and allies, and almost all the Western generals (who really ran things) were of barbarian origin would be confusing, not to mention that both the Romans and the barbarians were devout Christians in the 400's.THE REAL ROMULUS: He was born in 460 (a major error in the film indicates it starts in 460 when it's obviously 476, a very famous date).to the Roman aristocrat Orestes, from what would now be Croatia, and whose colorful history had included a stint as Attilla the Hun's secretary. Orestes overthrew the legitimate emperor, Julius Nepos (who fled) and installed his son, Romulus, on October 31st 475, as a figurehead while he actually ran things. Ocoacer led the disgruntled barbarian troops who wanted land in Italy and killed Orestes. Odoacer said he did not want to kill a mere child and instead sent him to the luxurious Villa of Lucullus on the Bay of Naples in Campania with an ample pension. He may have been still alive in 507, as Cassiodorus (secretary to Theoderic the Great, who had killed and replaced Odoacer), wrote a letter in 507 to a Romulus, confirming a pension.

Great storyline, well made, and fantastic acting. Very much worth watching.

This movie (as others have pointed out) had an amazing cast of talented actors and potential to be a great epic film but the design details I was hoping for were missing. The armour and weapons were just not historical enough for me (I am kind of picky that way) and the action was a little bit in the "kung fu flick" style.That being said, what I felt this movie actually was a fun film I could watch with my two small children. There was one very chaste love scene, very little blood in the fight scenes, and the main characters were moral, brave, and loyal to the boy-Caesar and each other. Ben Kingsley was awesome. The little boy's family was murdered and he was in constant danger but those around him always managed to pull him out in the nick of time. The cast really made the story enjoyable and the writing over-all was way above average for an action film. The bad-guys were scary but not too much for the kids.Because of the fun story and great acting, I wish I could rate this higher but the flaws in the martial and historical aspects of the production could have been avoided. There was ahistorical armour, shields, weapons, bows, siege equipment... it could have been so much better in this one regard that I can't rate it higher.

This is one of my very favorite movies, and I just bought a 2nd DVD because my first is starting to skip. This is just an awesomely fun, family-friendly fantasy, epic adventure with a lovely ending. I've enjoyed it so much I've just bought the book to relive it in a different light.The Good:Colin Firth doing something manly for a change.Aishwarya Rai is stunning as always.Ben Kingsley - 'nuf said.There was not one scene of Kevin McKidd's that I thought he could've done better; he so perfectly nailed that villain I give him "top acting" nod out of everyone in the movie; I will be looking for other work of his now.But everyone else wasn't a slouch either, so mostly great acting.Not a drop of blood flying in fight scenes; so while not realistic and won't please the gore purists, it does make the movie very child-friendly, if the general violence isn't too much for you parents.Beautiful scenery / great visual quality.Great production quality overall.The Bad:I felt a few times Colin Firth and Aishwarya Rai could've handled scenes better.Aishwarya Rai, while absolutely gorgeous, doesn't have an athletic muscle in her body.The Ugly:Those wigs....