The Last Legion: Stick to Bollywood Please! review
Devang Ghia review Aishwaya Rai starrer Hollywood film The Last Legion
It has now been a year since its release and yet Aishwarya Rai's ‘˜international project' is yet to make it to India. This despite the fact that it also stars A-listers like Colin Firth, Ben Kinsley and John Hannah. One look and you'll realize why. The film virtually nothing going for it. If released, it would take down its distributors with it. Plugging your losses is the way to go rather than trying to capitalize on Aishwarya's popularity in India.
Think of a story about a mysterious object with engravings on it and the aura of a prophecy around it. One edge to defend, one edge to destroy, etc. etc. A troop on a mission carrying that mysterious object across the countryside encountering enemies every fifteen minutes or so. Not just Lord of the Rings but also The Last Legion. The mysterious object here is Caesar's sword. No ordinary sword this, it gives power to its wielder. Add to it Caesar's heir who has it be protected from flying arrows and swinging maces and you have a wannabe swords-and-sandals epic. Epic because it's presented by Dino de Laurentiis with wife Martha and daughter Raffaella producing.
Aishwarya is required to do some heavy duty fight scenes here. But she's no Uma Thurman and director Lefler is no Tarantino. The result is badly choreographed, unconvincingly executed action. Firth can be no one's idea of an action hero and Kinsley sleepwalks through his part.
The excessive use of cinematic clichés does the film in more than anything else. A desolate village has to have smoke billowing from random fires around. When you stop your horse at the edge of a mountain cliff to take stock of the situation the wind blows across your hair sweeping it back. And betting on which character is going to be disposed off first is safer than betting on the outcome of an Australia-Zimbabwe cricket match. In the climactic battle sequence I spotted some footage being re-used, the ultimate hallmark of a bad film.
Though my guess is it will never see the darkness of a theatre in India, you never can never really be sure. Even if it does get released, you have been warned.
[rating:1]
