The Last Sentinel

I am actually watching this film right now on syfy, was a little dubious at first, we have so much in the way as low budget features being created at an independent level, I feel this film does deserve some credit.

The sets, some of them at least are brilliant, would not say no to having access to some of those myself. Directing, well, I say this as a film director myself, I learn all the time, both manually and technically.

Story though, I feel this could have been developed much better, like the characters, they need development through the film as they become introduced to the audiences, personally, I feel this wasn't done to much effect.

On a technical note, my only issue was the poor lighting scenes and the grainy picture, this is a problem with many low budget films and a lack of ability to light appropriately, it doesn't happen in every dark scene thankfully and I have seen worse grain on other films when in confined, dark spaces (Wolf Creek, a good film, let down by this technical issue), my only other little issue is with some of the effects, it's 50/50, some are orchestrated brilliantly, others are more 'what the hell was that?', but it's much cheaper to create and exploding head in edit than it is on the set I guess.

So I rated it 6, it could have had some great potential, but hey, it got a sale and since I am in the same industry right now of low budget features have the utmost respect for those who made this film

In a futuristic setting automated drones which were initially created to help humans have rebelled and are now attempting to destroy all of mankind. The only chance available to the human race are electronically enhanced soldiers who are patched into the computerized rifle they carry with an eye cap implant. The computerization is so advanced that it becomes a part of the soldier and communicates verbally with him. However, the drones are even more advanced and after several hard-fought battles only one soldier by the name of "Tallis" (Don Wilson) is left alive. As luck would have it though he manages to rescue an injured woman (played by Katee Sackhoff) who belongs to a "para-military" group desperately attempting to destroy a drone communication center. Although she is nowhere near as capable as Tallis she at least gives him a long-lost sense of purpose and they soon team up to fight the numerically superior drone army by themselves. Anyway, rather than detail any more of the film and possibly spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that while there was plenty of action it could have been much better if it had had a better script. Be that as it may, those who enjoy apocalyptic sci-fi films might find something to like but even so it's still not a top-of-the-line movie by any means. That said I have to rate it as slightly below average.

Don Wilson stars as Tallis an elite soldier who is sent in to wipe out the drones. Seems the drones are robotic police officers who are trying to wipe out humans (Although they aren't seen doing anything outside of shooting at Wilson) and our burned out hero is aided by Katee Sackhoff who inspires him to fight to the death, in this completely routine Sci-Fi action flick. The only thing The Last Sentinel has in its favor is that it far exceeds any Sci-Fi channel movie, however the reason is because The Last Sentinel wasn't made for the Sci-Fi channel and hence why the movie is competently made even if it isn't all that interesting. Don Wilson is okay in the lead role and some of the shootouts are well staged, but generally this is mediocre stuff that doesn't leave much of an impression. The movie is so underwritten that one can't get into it, while surprisingly Wilson doesn't use any of his kick-boxing skills. Well he might kick somebody once but generally he uses his talking gun to fight these assembly line villains without so much as breaking a sweat. The cast includes Steven Bauer (Far away from his Scarface days, poor Steven) Bokeem Woodbine (Far away from his Freeway days) and Keith David (Far away from his The Thing and They Live days) who only contribute cameos. Once again this is a fairly well made B.movie but it's really nothing you haven't seen before and for the most part this is forgettable fodder only for undemanding viewers or fans of the star.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

Where do I start - movie started with an interesting monologue that made me think its actually worth watching. But everything later was one disappointment after another.

For starters, action scenes are too long and repetitive. It seems like they tried to fill the void with guys in black rubber suits and blue goggles marching and some horror music playing in the background... oooooh, so frightening! There are lots of (long) shooting scenes where super-soldiers were too dumb to take cover but instead stood still in plain sight - no wonder they got slaughtered.

Most of the movie is in ruins with the girl and hero guy and very few other actors, lot of survivalist crap one-liners, absolutely predictable plot and cardboard characters.

Storyline is very weak, seems it was either written for a 12-year-old or by a 12-year-old, its hard to tell which is it.

And I only gave it a three (and watched the whole thing) because of Katee Sackhoff aka Starbuck, because I like BSG series a lot and respect the actors there - this movie is total and utter nonsense that deserves subzero ratings.

Jesse V. Johnson is my spirit director. He does the things similar to the movies I grew up on. Sure it's on a much smaller budget but the ideas and plot points are all solid. Plus, the rise of snark queen Sackhoff diddling the strong silent types makes me wanna shut up and workout. The use of Keith Davids voice in this movie is also fantastic. Might be the best part of the final act. Sure the gun fights don't make sense and the acting is stiff cause Don Wilson (no Dragon) is a much better fighter than he is a thespian. It's like Universal Soldier meets Terminator which, as a wee lad, I would've murdered my foster parents for.