Last Knights

Usually my tastes align pretty much with the score than MetaCritic (and RottenTomatoes) gives for a particular movie. This is one of the few exceptions to that rule. I disclaimer: I am Japanese and live in Japan, and have a sweet tooth for old school Japanese dramas (not just the masters like Kurosawa and Juzo Itami) and styles that some people might not have the taste for. Note that in Japan this movie is getting good reviews -- but that's probably due to the Japanese director and the Japanese actors in it. However, there is a lot of Korean influence (according to the credits) in it as well.

If I was to pick anything wrong with the movie, the second act, which builds up the twist to the third act and the obvious final battle, was a little too obvious to me, and those familiar with this type of drama, even Clint Eastwood's old masterpiece, "Unforgiven", will probably recognize the device right away.

The combat scenes were very well done and while choreographed, there was a minimal of "you must suspend your disbelief" type Matrix-like line-and-wire acrobatics (there was some though).

Finally, the movie doesn't wimp out with a Hollywood style "Happy Ending." I'm not going to tell you if it's a good ending or not... I'm just saying that they didn't choose the ending that would have marketers would have preferred. Good for them.

It is unfair to be too critic about this film. Because it is a decent version of "47 Ronins" and a beautiful knights film. Because Clive Owens is perfect in his role and the story, not remarkable, is correct and interesting and well crafted. A film about revenge. In which the cinematography, the performances, the CGI are more than good. Impressive fight scenes, inspired end and the feeling to see an old fashion historical movie, technicall, at a better level. A real good film.

Raiden (Clive Owen) must find a way to avenge the death of Bartok (Morgan Freeman) his master who was sentenced to death for challenging the Emperor's (Peyman Moaadi) Minister, Gezze Mott (Aksel Hennie). The reasoning is that a challenge to the Minister is also a challenge to the Emperor and must be dealt with by death. Bartok did have the opportunity to kill Gezze Mott and regretted not doing so. The Emperor rules that Raiden must carry out Bartok's death sentence. Well, this wasn't in the cards. (it was in the script, however)

It was never clear to me what country is involved in this. Who has Emperors? Japan, China, France? Hmmm…… I suppose it really doesn't matter as this is not a true story. It does, however, have elements of another movie: 47 Ronin (a good movie BTW).

This has inklings of being an epic, the cinematography was outstanding; the acting: excellent; the music signaled it being so; the fights: bloody, brutal and intense; the scene setups were masterful. You almost believed this was a true story. Kudos. (you're too easy)

The key to this movie is in the words above " Raiden must find a way to avenge the death of Bartok." Keep that in mind and you almost know how this will play out.

I was impressed with the actor who played the Emperor: Peyman Moaadi, who gave a very strong performance even though his screen time wasn't all that much.

Some of the fighting near the end, while good, was always in the dark, blurry, too fast and hard to follow who were the good guys vs the bad guys. (the bad guys wore black helmets)

All in all a well told story with Morgan Freeman and Clive Owen carrying the load in good fashion. (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

I am compelled to write my first review after 4 years on IMDb due to the bad reviews by critics. First off, I completely enjoyed this movie. I loved the initial setting which took about an hour which others complained to be too long but I felt that laid a good foundation for the plot to continue.

The second half could've been better but I'm not complaining. This was much better than Ridley Scott's Robin Hood when compared to a medieval story. What lacked in this movie was more character development and overall depth to both the story and characters. The details of storming the castle are also just gone through quickly without any importance. I feel like this could've been a 3 hour saga of excellent medieval story had the director gone with it. A fully developed story with multidimensional characters would've been perfect. Both Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman gave wonderful performances and as someone who loves their movies I felt satisfied just to see them in these particular roles.

Overall, don't miss this one just because of some harsh critic ratings. I felt entertained and this is one movie which did not let me down at all when compared with other medieval stories of the past few years.

In an unnamed empire, a lord is being killed for political reasons and the greed of a competitor, his private army disbanded, his lands divided among the other nobles. A year later, his retainers, all loyal followers of the code of the warrior, take revenge.

This is actually a real and very famous and influential event that happened in Japan in the 18th century, also known as the Ako incident. I found it funny that the ending of the movie was changed to suit Western sensibilities, but the gist of the film is the same nonetheless.

The acting was good, with a real nice cast, the directing was good and the entire feel of the movie, from cinematography to costumes, helped get me in the atmosphere of the story. I felt the music was a bit too bombastic for the scenes, but it was also nice.

Bottom line: a UK and South Korea coproduction, it feels different than an American movie, and in a very good way, but it is not an exceptional film. Perhaps its greatest merit is the acting and the rather faithful depiction of the incident. The ending ruins that a bit, but not by much.