Last Knights, 2015.
Directed by Kazuaki Kiriya.
Starring Clive Owen, Morgan Freeman, Aksel Hennie, Cliff Curtis, Dave Legeno and Ayelet Zurer.
SYNOPSIS:
Academy Award Nominee Clive Owen delivers an electrifying performance as a fallen warrior who rises against a corrupt and sadistic ruler to avenge his dishonored master, Academy Award Winner Morgan Freeman in this epic, sword-clashing adventure of loyalty, honor, and vengeance.
If Blockbuster was still a feature of the high street, you would find Last Knights at the bottom of the bargain bin next to a 90s Jennifer Lopez rom-com. Director Kazuaki Kiriya squanders a fairly impressive cast-who frankly look more interested in what they’re going to have for dinner than the source material-and creates a film impressively humourless, dull and painfully mediocre.
Morgan Freeman stars as Bartok, a wise leader with a hankering for motivational speeches, who after 20 minutes dies after all but teasing a corrupt minister (Aksel Hennie). Hennie does as any cliched dictator does and acts a bit of a dick. Enter Clive Owen who attempts to assemble a group of knights to enact revenge-although you have to swim through a sea of exposition, rubbish set-pieces and grossly uninteresting characters to create even the tiniest bit of enthusiasm to reach the half decent final action sequence.
Although these action sequences look as if shot in minutes, by students, off the M1. The cinematography only makes the situation greyer, and far more glum. Frankly, it’s impossible to care who lives or dies when you haven’t a clue who is fighting. Similarly, the editing-scattershot and lazy-worsens the occasion, stretching the film to what feels like a life time.
The characters are interchangeable, the action sequences tedious and the script dull (really, really, really dull). The Blockbuster bargain bin would be too much praise.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★
Thomas Harris