The Last Castle

[pythons]

Hmmm... (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0272020)

I cant be bothered to write a review of the movie or anything, but I caught a screening of this a few days back and I didnt quite know what to make if it.

I would say it is very watchable, very farclicle but there is something about it which restricted my enjoyment and is nagging me but I cant figure out what.

Robert Redford was good but cheesy. James Gandolfini was superb and really shines (I think he really saves this movie from being far worse than it is).

I dont know, I enjoyed it but I'm not sure why and I couldnt really reccomend it to anyone but I didnt dislike it. It's a wierd one.

What are other peoples opinions? Maybe that will help me clear up me confusion.

Mark

[pythons]

Does no one even have an opinion?? :eek:

[Disappearer]

I thought it sucked!

When they pulled out that huge catapult - exactly how did they build that without anyone noticing? And how did they manage to hide it? Were the A-Team perhaps involved?!

And what was with the cameo from Robin Wright Penn as Redford's daughter. He makes out like he wants to patch things up, but seems like he forgets about it pretty quick, getting totally obsessed with his own self-importance.

And, I know this is a military prison, but they're still criminals, so do we really believe they would ALL back Redford? Where was the dissension? Surely there would be factions that would consider him a nutjob?

It promised much, but disappointed. Full of the obvious prison cliches, the only omission was that no one got anally raped! Redford can be great, and Gandolfini's a god, but there were no sparks flying between them.

I should've watched LOTR again!!

[pythons]

Originally posted by Disappearer
I thought it sucked!

When they pulled out that huge catapult - exactly how did they build that without anyone noticing? And how did they manage to hide it? Were the A-Team perhaps involved?!

And what was with the cameo from Robin Wright Penn as Redford's daughter. He makes out like he wants to patch things up, but seems like he forgets about it pretty quick, getting totally obsessed with his own self-importance.

And, I know this is a military prison, but they're still criminals, so do we really believe they would ALL back Redford? Where was the dissension? Surely there would be factions that would consider him a nutjob?

It promised much, but disappointed. Full of the obvious prison cliches, the only omission was that no one got anally raped! Redford can be great, and Gandolfini's a god, but there were no sparks flying between them.

I should've watched LOTR again!!

Yup all perfectly valid points..

"with holes so big the prisoners could escape through them" hehe

[McD]

A lot of old pap!

Rips chunks off Shawshank in first five mins, then settles into nowheresville - just what did Redford's character achieve here? Why did anyone bother?

Added to which, I'm sitting there thinking that the big finale can never happen - coz it's a step too far for American audiences and I just wasn't sure if the director knew what he was doing - AN AMERICAN FLAG TO BE HUNG UPSIDE DOWN????

You have to realise that Americans are horribly anal about that flag (and you'd know all about it if you've been Stateside since Sep 11) and burning the flag is as bad as armed robbery over there!

So that finale, when it came, was as much of a reach-for-the-ruddy-sickbag moment as I can recall in cinema!

It was also nice to see that a hundred people couldn't even see the flag right infront of them until a certain cinematic moment had passed!

Gandolfini was great - that's as much as I'm willing to concede. Avoid!

EDITED before it becomes clear I didn't know who directed it, and to upgrade my opinion of Big Tony!

[Morpheus2000]

General Eugene Irwin (Robert Redford) is sentenced to 10 years in a military prison called The Last Castle. There James Gandofini is Colonel Winter in charge, where he has a strict code of conduct.

Nobody in the prison likes Colonel Winter as he uses his own methods for controlling the prisoners. When there is a fight amongst the prisoners the guards use rubber bullets, often with fatal results. General Irwin plans on taking control of the prison as this will show Winter's commanders that he's incapable of controlling the prison.

Overall the plot is very good with tension between Irwin and Winter ever growing. Irwin soon earns the respect from his fellow inmates as he tries to find the best in each of his fellow inmates while Winter exploits the worst in them. From the beginning to the explosive climax this film is thoroughly entertaining. Even though by the end of the film you think you're watching an episode of The A-Team this film is definitely worth a look.

[Ol' Blue Eyes]

I felt it was a decent prison drama, with some good performances by Redford, Gandolfini & co, until the last half-hour let it down. The whole business with the helicopter was like something out of a Rambo movie and the ending was way too cheesy and made very little sense. Why do Redford and Gandolfini do what they do when they've both been established as intelligent enough to know better.