Hey folks, Harry here... there are spoilers here that tell where characters end up at the end of the film, without telling how they got there... That's the sort of spoilers that Pendragon hatches here, but the type where you can still watch the film and not know what is happening next. He really loved the film though. And I have to say this makes me a helluvalot more excited to see the film than that trailer... Read on at your own risk...
PENDRAGON here -
Just saw the Last Castle last night. I was expecting it to be ridiculous and tawdry, an eroded big-studio cheescake of a picture. But what an absolute surprise - this pic was stirring, thrilling, unpredictable and witty.
LAST CASTLE's script is its greatest asset - two stonewall adversaries talk their way through a strategic, covert battle, with rousing and vicious speeches (and frequent metaphors to chess).
Robert Redford and James Gandolfini inhabit their roles satisfactorily; Redford may well be nominated for an Oscar, if only because he's reached that advanced Hollywood leading-man age when any appearance in a serious film seems to bring a nomination.
Redford's charisma is golden and consistent, even when his line delivery is a little weak. His understated command of the screen and of the actors/characters around him suffuses the entire picture. THE LAST CASTLE would not have worked with either a more bombastic or a less cheerful actor in his role (as an imprisoned three-star US general).
It similarly would not have worked without as creepy a performance as Gandolfini contributes. He's scarier here than as Tony Soprano, if only because the constraints of his uniform, position and responsibilities (he's the warden of a military prison) force the actor to abandon the recklessly brutish approach he's used in the Sopranos and to adopt a more sarcastic, insinuating tone. His character in this film is, quite possibly, the only example in this year's Hollywood films of a villain which an audience can truly enjoy hating for two hours. When his retribution comes at the hands of Redford and company (and such wonderfully, guiltily satisfying villain-rebuttal has not been seen onscreen since perhaps the destruction of the Death Star), we in the audience cheer not just for the heroes' triumph, but for the villain's antagonistic stubborness. Gandolfini's warden character does not cop out and experience a sudden change of heart; neither does he appear, from the moment we meet him, as an out-and-out lowlife. His descent into moral reprehensibility is as gradual and compelling as is Redford's campaign to win the trust and allegiance of his fellow prisoners.
Needless to say, the trailer for this film does not do THE LAST CASTLE'S actors or script justice.
There are oversweetened Hollywood moments - in large part due to the unnecessary, melodramatic score. Hollywood soundtracks need a major overhaul... but that's a totally separate issue. On the whole, it is inspiring to see a film - especially in light of current events - which depicts the American military (even its criminal outcasts) as being generally honourable, competent, and resourceful.
It's also nice to see that the prison-film genre did not lose its vitality after THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, and that the military-prisoner-escape-film genre still has some breath in it decades after THE GREAT ESCAPE. So see this film.
PENDRAGON
