Michael Ledo
The tale takes place in a fictional time and place years after "The Great Wars" when all races now live together. Bartok (Morgan Freeman) is an old master or lord whose days are numbered. He has no heir and hands over his lands to his "retainer" Raiden (Clive Owen) a person of dubious background, but who now has honor. Bartok is required to make additional tribute to the first council (Robert Russell) which he finds objectionable. Things go downhill from this point and for awhile we have to deal with another drunk Hercules movie.This was a fairly decent knight/fight film having the right amount of plot. I liked the little flashback details. Clive Owen played the role in a fairly deadpan fashion. He would not have been my first choice. Freeman does have lengthy rant about taxes, bribes and extortion generic to all government systems.Guide: No f-bombs, sex, or nudity.
Mankindfails
This movie isn't so bad, it's just not good, it's slow, lame and dull. If you as so much as heard of the 47 Ronin story, you've already seen this movie. That's the general feeling of the movie. As if you or me had heard the story, liked it and decided to make a version with western knights but only based on the big lines of the well known story...With Western Knights but in a wannabe fantasy world that make no sense with no attempt to give it some depth of any kind. With Western knights mixed with a few non white people with foreign accents, including the Emperor...People in this movie don't even have haircuts fitting any notion of medieval period. That's how bad it is, how much the director didn't cared... You can imagine Clive Owen asking the director "what about my hairs" and the director answering "what about them ?"... Unbelievable...Rarely seen a movie that felt so empty. Be careful about positive reviews on that film. Maybe if its the 8th movie you've seen in your life you'll like it but if you have any expectations, don't waste your time.
SnoopyStyle
Commander Raiden (Clive Owen) and his knights serve honorably and loyally to their lord Bartok (Morgan Freeman). With his son dead, Bartok assigns Raiden as his heir. Bartok refuses to pay a bribe to corrupt minister Geza Mott of the empire and is executed for it. With Bartok's estate and men scattered, Geza Mott fears revenge from Raiden. Raiden falls into a state of drunken depression despite Lt. Cortez (Cliff Curtis) and others' best efforts. Eventually, Raiden's slide convinces Geza Mott of his lost of will.At first, the oddly international cast and the non-specific history led to me to wonder where and when this takes place. Eventually, I accepted its non-specific alternate-history world but it's still bothersome. The story is terribly slow and lacks intensity. It does have an interesting turn which is clearly telegraphed. The film is simply tired. There are lots of CGI and action in the third act but they are mostly lower level. By then, it doesn't matter anyways. This is a weak sword adventure film.
Russ Hog
Last Knights is a special kind of bad movie. It has some decent cinematography. Pretty OK acting. The story is cliché but it's also a good kind of cliché - which is to say that there are a lot of elements to the story that are enjoyable to watch time and time again. Yet - at the same time - this film is just so awful. It's kind of one of those movie "limbo" films. The premise is that some knight has to kill his mentor because the mentor insults the emperor. So he feels he loses his honor. Turns into a drunk. Then he has a change of heart - gets his team of knights back together - and goes on a rampage to defeat his enemies and restore his honor. This sounds kinda awesome - except in this film - it's not!One of the weirdest parts of this movie is that it seems to take place in some European land - but there are Asians, Hispanics, blacks, and whites. (Of course the lead is a straight white male - so what really was the point of the diversity?) The casting is so freakishly wonky it's just hard to explain - there is no credibility to the story. None. Most freakish of all is the emperor is just some little Hispanic guy who basically has no presence whatsoever. In fact, none of the villains in this film have any presence. They whine. Talk. Pout. Drink. The heroes also have no presence. They whine. Talk. Pout. Drink. The combat scenes are terrible and the CGI sets are weak sauce. One especially troubling scene is when our hero goes and rescues a woman from a brothel - and the screen just fades to black instead of shows the epic rescue. Big time let down - that was a blown opportunity for an audience to bond with the main character. It is basically an epic film that is not epic. It is so far from epic - what is the polar opposite of epic? Short? Stupid? Boring? Dull? Lame? A total waste of time and space?In general - this film is a movie that is basically a remake of 47 Ronin - but it is just terrible. However, it is not un-watchable. So for that - three stars.
AD
