An average movie

Kevin Macdonald is one of the most highly regarded documentary makers in the world and since 2006, he has been making some fiction as well. His fiction debut was the heralded ‘The Last King of Scotland’ which was indeed very good but also very flawed in my opinion. Since then, he has directed ‘State of Play’ which sounded great on paper but was eventually rather underwhelming and this flick which also sounded promising but didn’t really deliver at the end. I mean, it is not a bad movie, the whole thing looked great, they managed to create a great mood and I especially enjoyed those fearsome Scottish warriors. Still, they were some stuff that just didn’t work. For example, Channing Tatum was vastly miscast. It is pretty obvious the guy, who was still only seen as a heartthrob at the time, wanted to prove that he had some range. Well, he wasn’t there yet and he should wait at least for another decade before having his Russell Crowe moment. Then, you had the story, based on some historical events, which was quite intriguing but still rather far-fetched. Above all, in the last 15 minutes, it became quite unbelievable and the plot-holes were pretty obvious (how Esca managed to gather the rest of the legion? Did they happen to be all nearby with their gear? And the Seal warrior’s son? Did they get back to their village so they could bring him and kill him on the spot?). Still, it remains a well made and entertaining flick and I guess it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

6/10