When the Goth warlords over throw the roman empire and destroy the ancient city itself, the last surviving Caesar, Romulus Augustus (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) is forced to flee to the last outpost of the empire - Brittania, with the few remaining members of his royal bodyguard, led by General Aurelius (Colin Firth), and his mysterious teacher Ambrosinus (Ben Kingsley). But the boy emperor is being hunted by many adversaries, for in his possession is a sword of great power, and with which can be forged a great history.
There are lots of good points about this film, but just as many that let it down. The major concept of this film is that it is a prequel story to the sword excalibur, which is not a terrible idea, but unfortunately it has been presented in a simplistic manner: there are many moments in the story that seem 'quick-fix' and rushed, which spoils the over all idea. Not only that, but there are several moments in the narrative where the idea of the Excalibur story is just a distraction from the main events - the fall of the roman empire.
If this were the only problem, it might have been acceptable, but things are rarely that easy. The all star cast give a decent performance, but the dialogue and writing is packed with cheesy lines and a lot of expectable rubbish. The historical connotations - the fall of Rome and the 9th legions - are decently represented, but again it takes these ideas and mostly uses them as a distraction. Besides, there are numerous historical inaccuracies even before the story really begins. Probably the only major redeeming quality of this film are the action packed combat scenes which are spectacular to watch, especially when headed by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
Perhaps the best way to describe The Last Legion is as a distraction - it is entertaining without being particularly clever or without any real need to watch more than the battle scenes.
