The Last Castle (DVD)

An action drama directed by Rod Lurie and released in 2002, The Last Castle stars Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo and Delroy Lindo. A battle hardened three star General and war hero Eugene Irwin (played by Robert Redford) has been court marshaled for refusing to follow orders. He is sentenced to a military prison known as "The Castle," to serve his time. The 'king' of the castle is Colonel Winter, someone who has never experienced active service, but keeps an impressive collection of military memorabilia and books in his office. He is a somewhat ruthless man who enforces his own petty rules, and soon begins to clash with his latest ...  Read the complete review

Sometimes, I find that the films I end up watching by chance are far better than the ones I spend my time mulling over in the local rental shop. 'The Last Castle' is without doubt one of those films. Last week after flicking through all of the SKY and terrestrial channels at least twice, we agreed to stick with this film which was showing on SKY movies, as we saw it had a decent cast, so it was worth chancing our luck. I had heard a few people at work rave on about this film after seeing it, but until now I had no idea what the film was about, or even who it starred, and I don't know why but the title had always put me off in the past. There's logic for ...  Read the complete review

The prison movie, something that fits like an old glove. It's the kind of film you may find showing on TV come Sunday afternoon. It's warm, it's comfortable and not too taxing. You can find yourself suitably entertained but far from overwhelmed. If you fall asleep then it's no big deal, chances are you'll know the ending anyway. Of course there are a few exceptions to the rule with The Shawshank Redemption being the obvious choice. The Last Castle is another prison movie but perhaps with a difference. The in-mates in this prison are all here as a result of military crimes. So here you have men who are criminals but not in the broadest sense. ...  Read the complete review

'A castle can only have one king' The castle in question is a United States military prison. Robert Redford a decorated war hero is sent there for a crime to find the prison's brutal regime not what he expected. James Gandolfini plays the prison chief. A man with no military background who envies the position and respect that Redford once had. In punishing Redford, he actually manages to rally the rest of the prison populace to get behind Redford and his actions. Gandolfini is excellent in this role, light years away from Tony Soprano. I think if he did add that menace of the mobster it would have deflected away from his weakness as a officer, which ...  Read the complete review

Casting is sometimes all you need to get me into a cinema queue - the idea of Robert Redford and James Gandolfini going head to head was quite enough. Redford keeps popping up with solid contributions on either side of the camera every time you think he's retired, while Gandolfini's deserved success in 'The Sopranos' has thankfully not stopped his succession of admirable character performances. And 'The Last Castle' has some casting aces up its sleeve - Redford is Hollywood's foremost tree-hugger and impeccable liberal, supporting Ralph Nader for the presidency, and yet here he's playing a detatched army general, ending his ...  Read the complete review