LAST KNIGHTS is a better retelling of the 47 Ronin tale than the Keanu Reeves movie, 47 RONIN.  The Czech Republic locations combined with the cold winter snow add to the movie with Clive Owen glowering like a haunted man and Morgan Freeman adding some gravitas for the first twenty minutes. The movie starts out with a great climatic action cene as the knights finally put in their plan of action to get Lord Bartok’s honor back, but the movie does sag in places in the middle of the movie.  Still LAST KNIGHTS will satisfy many people even though some reviewers don’t like this movie. The casting is an international mix of actors while some of the cast doesn't have enough to do (but the actor playing the emperor does what he can with what little is written for him).

 

In LAST KNIGHTS, Owen plays Commander Raiden (they must have stole that name from Mortal Kombat.  His master is Lord Bartok (Morgan Freeman) who took Raiden in to be trained as a knight years ago.  He has to carry out the order against Bartok and a plan for revenge is set by Bartok’s knights (but you do wonder if Raiden has fallen from grace back into old way or if it is all part of a big plan by Raiden and his knights as Raiden plays cat and mouse with Gezza Mott who is responsible for Bartok’s fall).

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

BEHIND THE SCENES OF LAST KNIGHTS (22 minutes approx) which is a combo of behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, and clips from the movie that covers the cold conditions they filmed under, talking about the cast, and the story

A LOOK AT THE SPECIAL EFFECTS OF LAST KNIGHTS shows how much they added digital elements to various shots and scenes in the movie

 

Interviews with director Kaz Kiriya, Morgan Freeman (Lord Bartok), Clive Owen (Commander Raiden), Cliff Curtis, Payman Maadi (Emperor), Tsuyoshi Ihara, Dave Legeno, and Director of Photography Antonio Riestra

 

LAST KNIGHTS theatrical trailer

Trailers for MAGGIE, CYMBELINE, VICE, DYING OF THE LIGHT, and RECLAIM

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: LAST KNIGHST is better than 47 RONIN even though the film lags in the middle.

 

This review is ©7-8-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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