Opening

72% World War Z Jun 21
77% Monsters University Jun 21
61% The Bling Ring Jun 21
60% Maniac Jun 21
100% A Hijacking Jun 21
66% Unfinished Song Jun 21
100% The Attack Jun 21
—— The Haunting of Helena Jun 21

Top Box Office

55% Man of Steel $116.6M
85% This Is the End $20.7M
50% Now You See Me $11.0M
71% Fast & Furious 6 $9.6M
38% The Purge $8.3M
34% The Internship $7.1M
62% Epic $6.3M
87% Star Trek Into Darkness $6.3M
11% After Earth $4.1M
78% Iron Man 3 $3.0M

Coming Soon

—— How To Make Money Selling Drugs Jun 26
—— White House Down Jun 28
—— The Heat Jun 28
56% I'm So Excited! Jun 28

The Last Legion (2007)

tomatometer

16

Average Rating: 4.1/10
Reviews Counted: 55
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 46

With miscast leads and unoriginal, uninspired dialogue, The Last Legion pales in comparison to the recent cinematic epics it invokes.

7

Average Rating: 3.9/10
Critic Reviews: 15
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 14

With miscast leads and unoriginal, uninspired dialogue, The Last Legion pales in comparison to the recent cinematic epics it invokes.

audience

38

liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 94,337

My Rating

Movie Info

Co-adapted by Tom Butterworth and Jez Butterworth from Valerio Massimo Manfredi's best-selling historical adventure novel, Doug Lefler's period epic The Last Legion unfurls in 470 A.D., just prior to the fall of the colossal Roman Empire. As the most recent in a long line of caesars, a young Roman child, Romulus (Thomas Sangster), is poised to inherit the throne -- until Germanic forces invade, lay siege to the city, and brutally murder his parents. At the last second, with his life hanging by a

Dec 18, 2007

$125.8M

The Weinstein Company - Official Site External Icon

Watch It Now

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

All Critics (58) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (46) | DVD (5)

There are, after all, aimed at young audiences plenty of movies more mean-spirited, indiscriminate and obnoxious than The Last Legion. But at the same time there are plenty that are, alas, less frustrating.

December 17, 2007 Full Review Source: Film.com | Comment (1)
Film.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Crudely mangling Arthurian legend into Roman history, this creaky swords 'n' sandals romper trundles forward like a hurriedly upholstered TV movie.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Every once in a while, though, Firth's eyebrow hints, Can you believe I'm wearing this dorky leather breastplate?

August 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I have too much respect for Kingsley and Firth to believe they did this for anything other than the money, and to their credit, they give their best efforts.

August 20, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Daily News
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Despite the occasional gleam of wit, very little is to be taken seriously -- not the story, not the acting and certainly not the history.

August 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Newsday
Newsday
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie rarely feels fresh. Even an absurd cage-match like 300 cared enough to be both rousing and handsome. There's no fun to be had here.

August 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Boston Globe
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

As the Roman Empire crumbles, undemanding escapist entertainment with wonderful production design and a cast.

May 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment (1)
Urban Cinefile

No twist is too farfetched for this Dino De Laurentiis epic.

October 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Times [UK]
Times [UK]

A good cast wallow about in a story you can't believe for a moment.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: This is London
This is London

Colin Firth is not an actor who projects sparkling joie de vivre at the best of times, and The Last Legion, a cod-Roman reimagining of Arthurian myth, is very much not the best of times.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph
Daily Telegraph

Tosh, but disarmingly sincere.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Independent

A hunk of old Brie, left all day in the glove compartment in a car on a hot summer's day, could not smell more ripe than this absurd sword'n'sandal Roman movie.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment (1)
Guardian [UK]

Silly and camp.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Financial Times
Financial Times

A novel hybrid of swords, sandals, horned helmets and furs, this really is a load of old rubbish, but there's some fun to be had, especially for boys who like to have mock sword fights with wooden sticks.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4

Paper-thin characters, stilted conversations and abrupt editing mean this is hard to get involved with, and its link with Arthurian legend feels contrived and clichéd.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: BBC

The action sequences are handled well enough but the CGI isn't up to snuff in a tale that barely merits the retelling.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Sky Movies
Sky Movies

This attempt at reimagining the Arthurian legend fails to raise the pulse due to some leaden dialogue and unconvincing performances.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

A wannabe sword-and-sandals saga.

September 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle
Austin Chronicle

...makes a hash of history, but...just think of it as a nifty adventure dreamed by an imaginative boy who dozed off in his grandfather's library.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review
Sacramento News & Review

Here's a strange concept: A goofy, Indiana-Jones-type spin on the pre-Arthur legend.

August 29, 2007 Full Review
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

While it's almost certainly guaranteed to be a box office bomb, I'm suspecting this goofy little adventure will earn a few bemused fans once it hits DVD.

August 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Cinematical
Cinematical

A passably entertaining hodgepodge of sword-and-sandal film clichés and Arthurian romance.

August 25, 2007
Reel.com

This take on the Arthurian legend is flawed but watchable.

August 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor
Christian Science Monitor

Audience Reviews for The Last Legion

Hmmm a cross breed here with a mix of historical fact ,or what we know, blended with your typical over the top action sillyness much like 'Prince of Thieves'. There are some nice touches here from the cityscape's and landscapes rendered in cgi to the attempt at telling the real tale behind King Arthur, Merlin, Excalibur and the events around that time involving Romans, Celts and barbarians. On one hand it does a nice job, the cast helps, in places yet doesn't in others haha Firth is reduced to a cliched action hero with invincibility on his side much like the 'hero team' *yawn* and his team are the usual predictable lot with the token sexy female warrior hehe the same for the baddies too really, your average growling bearded hulks.

The plot is twisty and has many people dotting in n out which doesn't help with the constant mindless fighting going on between everybody and anybody, and the fighting is your usual one man army killing groups of baddies single handed type affair *groan*
To be honest it's all rather silly apart from one or too reasonable performances, Sangster and Kingsley mainly, with the realistic historic backdrop attempt that reminds me allot of the old BBC series 'Robin Hood' with Michael Praed.

Could of been great if it had been serious.
August 25, 2007
phubbs1

Super Reviewer

An interesting premiss, but too many inconsistencies and a mixing of some nice sets intertwinned with some horrible cgi.

What starts out passably reasonable turns silly once the "seige" on Capri begins - the baddie Goths running around a south mediterrenean island wearing furs and viking helmets - hilarious!!!

Some of the fight scenes are nicely done, but as there are so many of them it just seems redundant (even Colin Firth kind of shrugs as yet another group of extras comes after him).

There's a few nice touches once the group gets to Brittania (Ben Kingsley gathering the young folk around to tell the tale of the forging of the sword) - but even the climatic battle scene gets silly with young Romulus running around like he has a force field around him.

There is the potential for a truly good baddie in the man in the gold mask, but then his demise in a battle with Kingsley is way too abrupt and short on drama (not to mention that when Kingsley calls out from the top of the ridge that he has vanquished the tyrant, everyone in the pitch of battle seems to hear him clearly - uh, don't think so!

The final surprise twist is done fairly well, but I can't help thinking of the film Excaliber which dealt with the Arthurian legend about a gazillion times better.
January 11, 2010
maxthesax
paul sandberg

Super Reviewer

    1. Ambrosinus: We need heroes, don't we?
    – Submitted by Typhon Q (8 months ago)

Discussion Forum

There are no discussion threads for The Last Legion yet.

What's Hot On RT

24 Frames
24 Frames

Pictures from a zombie nation

Blue Jasmine
Blue Jasmine

Woody Allen in San Francisco

<em>The Hobbit</em>
The Hobbit

See the Desolation of Smaug trailer!

Summer Scorecard
Summer Scorecard

Where does This Is the End rank?

Latest News on The Last Legion

August 19, 2007:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Superbad Opens Big at #1
Teenagers flocked to the multiplexes for stimulation this weekend as the raunchy new sex comedy...
August 16, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Make Way for McLovin
Carrying some major buzz into the marketplace, Sony's teen comedy Superbad hits the multiplexes this...
August 16, 2007:
Critical Consensus: Superbad is Certified Fresh; The Invasion Crash-Lands
This week at the movies, we've got some McLovin (Superbad, starring Michael Cera and Jonah Hill),...
Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile