Last Knights (2015) Film Review
I watched this movie last year with my big family, so I decided to sacrifice a bit of time to write a review of this movie.
Last Knight tells the story about a group of warrior who are seeking to avenge the death of their master at the hand of a corrupt minister. It features a range of ethnically diverse cast, ranging from British (Clive Owen), American (Morgan Freeman), to Japanese (Tsuyoshi Ihara) and Korean (Park Si-yeon and Ahn Sung-ki).
The film starts off with a band of warriors fighting off some bad guys in the woods with the victory lying on the warriors. Then the film cuts to a messenger carrying a message for Lord Bartok (Morgan Freeman) and weāre finally introduced to our main character, Commander Raiden (Clive Owen). Lord Bartok here was a man of great idealism as he showed anger and disgust at the idea of bribery and corruption in his country.He asked Raiden about what he must do at this point. His answer was the opposite of what Lord Bartok believed in, but we later on see that Lord Bartok thought his idea was better than his.
Suddenly, Lord Bartok hunched in pain. He was sick. His daughter and wife came in, so he told Raiden to keep it a secret from them.
In the training ground, Gabriel (Noah Silver), was training his sword-fighting skill against another warrior. He won, but suddenly Lieutenant Cortez (Cliff Curtis) stroke out a move that might killed him, reminding that in the battle field, it will not be always a one-on-one fight. Raiden came in, telling them to prepare because theyāre going to capital.
Late at night, Bartok visited Raiden and his wife, telling him to come with Bartok. They did a tour on the Bartok graveyard with Bartok telling Raiden about his ancestors. We found out that Bartok initially had a son, but he died. , leaving him with no heir to his throne. He had a feeling Ā that his time would end soon, and so he appointed Raiden, who was his adopted son, to take care of the clan when he was gone by giving him a sword.
Travel time. There were tears, lots of them, as the families sent off the warrior to the capital. Raidenās wife was particularly strong. She even winked at him.
They took a break at night and set up camp. Cortez was friends with Raiden since they were young lads. Gabriel asked Cortez about the rumors that surrounds Raiden. He didnāt come from a military class family. He was a peasant, actually, but his whole family died of the fever except him. He succumbed to alcohols, but later broke out from it and became an adopted son of Bartok. I forgot what Gabrielās exact words were, but the point is, a man should not be judged, but respected for his ability to rebuild himself. That line was awesome.
We finally meet the villain, Geza Mott, corrupt minister and the man of bribery (I was quite lost on what the bribery thing is all about). They had a meeting, two actually, which did not end wellāthe second one needed in Bartok attacking Geza Mott.
The case was put on trial. Bartok let out a long speech, presenting his idealism as the reason for his attack. However, his speech does not have the effect he was hoping and he condemned to deathā¦at the hands of Raiden himself because he was raged at Bartokās sentence.
The aftermath. The folks of the Bartok lands were evacuated out. The warriors are disbanded. Raiden went back to his a hole of addiction, getting worse and worse everyday. Geza Mottās commander ( I donāt his name so Iāll call him Japanese commander right now because heās played by a Japanese actor) has a quite a heart. One of his men rough-handled Bartokās daughter. He scolded him saying that these people are losing home, so he should treat them better. The man smirked behind his back, Japanese commander slashed his throat.
One year later, the former Bartok warrior are working odd jobs. Cortez manages ships with Gabriel working for him. One guy opened Ā bar, another now is an apprentice for a blacksmith while also being in love wit the daughter. And Raiden, he is truly getting down with his addiction.
Meanwhile, Gezaās condition is not really much better. He became paranoid. He even had Japanese commander stalking Raiden to ensure that he is not planning to seek revenge against him. Until his commander truly ensured that Raiden is completely no longer a threat to finally lets his guard down.
Butā¦the surface might lie. Raiden was faking his drunkenness this whole time and he was actually planning to break into Gezaās sanctuary and kill him. They carried the plan out and all hell breaks loose.
Though I found the story quite entertaining, I do not find it compelling enough to label it as really good. Raidenās idea was genius, but the film doesnāt really explore the characters, even for Bartok, Geza, or Raiden. I feel no emotion watching this, even if it does portray plenty of angst.
Itās negative points aside, I still think this movie portrays what a true warrior has to be like and how it feels like to have someone you love go to war and fear the possibility of not being able to see them again.
Final ratings: 3 out of 5 stars. Ā