Stars: Clive Owen, Morgan Freeman, Aksel Hennie, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Ahn Sung-ki, Giorgio Caputo, Daniel Adegboyega, Shohreh Aghdashloo, James Babson, Brian Caspe, Cliff Curtis, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ayelet Zurer | Written by Michael Konyves, Dove Sussman | Directed by Kazuaki Kiriya
Set in an age of honour and justice by the sword, Last Knights tells the story of Raiden (Owen) – a fallen warrior who must rise up against a corrupt and sadistic ruler to avenge Bartok (Freeman), his dishonoured master. Think of the film as something akin to Seven Samurai but set in the middle ages and you’ll be somewhere close.
If I’m honest, I’m not the biggest fan of historical epics – give me a down and dirty, straight to DVD schlockfest over one any day. However when said historical epic the English language debut of famed Japanese director Kazuaki Kiriya (Casshern, Goemon), I can’t help but put my prejudices aside.
Set in an age of honour and justice by the sword, Last Knights tells the story of Raiden (Owen) – a fallen warrior who must rise up against a corrupt and sadistic ruler to avenge Bartok (Freeman), his dishonoured master. Think of the film as something akin to Seven Samurai but set in the middle ages and you’ll be somewhere close.
If I’m honest, I’m not the biggest fan of historical epics – give me a down and dirty, straight to DVD schlockfest over one any day. However when said historical epic the English language debut of famed Japanese director Kazuaki Kiriya (Casshern, Goemon), I can’t help but put my prejudices aside.
- 4/19/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
About Last Knight: Kiriya’s Culture Club Reimagining of the Feudal System
It’s unclear for who or for what reason Japanese director Kazuaki Kiriya decided to undertake his English language debut, Last Knights, a convoluted pseudo-revenge flick that plays like some very watered down version of the classic 47 Ronin mythos but reconstituted within a parallel universe’s sci-fi inspired Crusades tale. A gig is a gig, so we can’t blame the poo poo platter of multicultural actors portraying peoples we’re supposed to believe all resided in the same place (not to mention, fought for the same cause), each with varying degrees of accented and/or broken English. Incredibly flaccid and late staged action sequences following a baffling revenge plot don’t help matters, except maybe to say that even if the world had known an age of such incredible diversity we still wouldn’t be able to all just get along.
It’s unclear for who or for what reason Japanese director Kazuaki Kiriya decided to undertake his English language debut, Last Knights, a convoluted pseudo-revenge flick that plays like some very watered down version of the classic 47 Ronin mythos but reconstituted within a parallel universe’s sci-fi inspired Crusades tale. A gig is a gig, so we can’t blame the poo poo platter of multicultural actors portraying peoples we’re supposed to believe all resided in the same place (not to mention, fought for the same cause), each with varying degrees of accented and/or broken English. Incredibly flaccid and late staged action sequences following a baffling revenge plot don’t help matters, except maybe to say that even if the world had known an age of such incredible diversity we still wouldn’t be able to all just get along.
- 4/1/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Filmed a full two years ago, Last Knights has been inhabiting a misty limbo-land waiting for release. It seems it's finally emerging, blinking into the sunlight of 2015, however, and to prove it here's a trailer to show us what we've been missing while we watched Game Of Thrones instead. Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman are the stars, both upstaged by Freeman's moustache.Shot in and around Prague but set in a medieval fantasy-land, Last Knights is the story of Owen's Raiden, a swordsman employed by Freeman's dishonoured Lord Bartok to lead a band of warriors against corrupt ruler Gezza Mott (Headhunters' Aksel Hennie).Kazuaki Kiriya is the director, making his first film on actual sets and locations, following the entirely green-screen antics of Casshern and Goemon. Michael Konyves (Barney's Version) and Dove Sussman worked on the screenplay, and Last Knights gets an online and limited theatrical release in the Us...
- 2/11/2015
- EmpireOnline
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