The Lost Legion

This film was a bit ploddy .It does entertain in places but not very convincing.

Going through a phase of watching "End of the Roman Empire" movies ("The Last Legion", "The Standard") and so gave this one a go as well. After a slow-motion fight sequence (not very well handled) at the very beginning, the thing descends into non-stop copulation plus the lead participants in this (the masters/mistresses of the performing slaves) talking endlessly of plots, intrigues, machinations and political manoeuvrings. After a solid half hour of this, I could feel myself going comatose and did something I very rarely do once I have started to watch a movie; gave up and did something more constructive with my time. I am grateful for the hour or so I saved by not watching this tripe further, but resent having wasted the half hour spent watching the first third. Do ANYTHING (rearrange your sock drawer, sort your desktop paper clips according to size, polish all your shoes etc.) rather than making the same mistake! (Makes the two other (moderately good) films mentioned look like "Gladiator" or "Ben Hur" in comparison!)

Would have liked more action scenes but what is present is very well done but more needed. Like the various slow mo and speed up in action sequences. Performances by all major characters is excellent. Missing some sound fx in what I saw, so is empty in places which is a shame, because it wrecks some important scenes, I find it almost distracting. Would enjoy seeing more of these characters, as they are very interesting although should have been shorter overall, it's too slow in places A TV series would be excellent idea as there are a number of intricate plots in work here that would really work into numerous segments of TV series. Michelle Lukes is especially a good villainess. Tom McKay has much appeal as the hero, and Brian Caspe is evil defined on the verge of madness, yet just holding back from that edge. Overall quite enjoyable.

Indeed many huge movies and TV series was made by many with huge budgets, yet Legion delivers on what it promises: A good drama, love story, some nastiness and of course bevy of nice slave girls. A bit too long( I have seen 90 minute version) and as compared to the so called original ( which most folks have seen since LionsGate released it in a rough cut form) it is quite good.

Now as to the history of the piece. It is of course a part fiction and part historically accurate. I have not considered Wikipedia as a reliable source. I consider Wilipedia a source for those who are lazy to do a proper research or too ignorant to read a book. Well, I have read Peter Heather's " The Fall of the Roman Empire" the only real book on the subject since Edward Gibbon's more then 300 years ago. In Lost Legion I see elements of Heather's accurate history as well as fiction, all blended well.

For the connoisseurs of history I suggest for future viewers to look for the shorter 90 min version. As a pilot for possible series this exceeds anyone's expectations. I do however agree with the original review above , that the 2h original version is indeed too verbose and badly put together, however an intelligent fan of history will find the "pearls" among some of the "amateur "editing and sound post production.

You would think a movie about the Roman Empire, even at its end, would be good. You would be mistaken.

The acting isn't that good; there are quite a few adult films which have better acting. The script could have been a lot better. Too bad it wasn't.

The action was okay for a low budget film. No great shakes.

There are lots of semi-naked women throughout. While the inclusion of this 'bevy of beauties' does take the sting out of the lameness of the movie, it still isn't that good.

It's like it tries to be the continuation at times of the Spartacus 4 season series. It fails.

Watch it if you get bored.