The Last Legion (2007)

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 | Sword | Roman Empire | Emperor

Awards:

2 nominations

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:

The statue of Gaius Julius Caesar (at 37:00) was not the primary statue used in Tunisia; rather, it was a special effects statue with a large gaping hole in its back and which was intended to be rigged to blow up. When production moved from Tunisia to Slovakia the primary statue was lost.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Wulfila's finger is about to be sliced off, the knife put up against it is placed blunt/dull side towards the finger, thus making it impossible to slice off the finger.

Quotes:

Aurelius: Who are you?
Ambrosinus: One who knows humiliation to be a poor teacher, of both men and boys.
Aurelius: I smell a philosopher.

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.