A significant number of international stars appeared in front of the camera for “Last Knights – The Knights of the 7th Order”. It wasn’t just American Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman (“The Condemned”) and Oscar-nominated Brit Clive Owen (“Hautnah”) who squeezed into chain mail and steel armor. Also the New Zealander Cliff Curtis (“Whale Rider”), known for “Avatar: The Way Of Water”, the Norwegian Aksel Hennie (“Headhunters”), the Israeli-born Ayelet Zurer (“Illuminati”) and the always the great Iranian Shohreh Aghdashloo (“The Expanse”) played a major role.
Nevertheless, the battle and revenge epic failed both in the global trade press and at the US box office. In this country, the screen spectacle only celebrated its premiere as a DVD release. The main point of criticism was that ‘Last Knights’ added nothing new to the historical action subject, but only used familiar motifs and elements – although not a completely wrong analysis. However, the film – given its rather modest budget of just under $20 million – Remarkably well made and visually done. And thanks to the committed performances of the aforementioned actors, it is certainly watchable for fans of the genre. The predominantly positive to enthusiastic reviews from our readers confirm this.
We therefore have a recommendation for genre fans and the tip: if you don’t know what to stream tonight, watch “Last Knights – The Knights of the 7th Order”. This is possible with your trusted VoD retailer – for example Amazon Prime Video:
This is the story of “Last Knights”
Raiden (Clive Owen) is an extremely strong, financially but poverty-stricken mercenary who sees Mr. Bartok (Morgan Freeman), whom he admires, as a kind of father figure. The prince, who is as kind-hearted as he is honest, is one of the few nobles in the country who dares to rebel against the emperor (Payman Maadi), who oppresses the population and squeezes out blood.
When Bartok refuses to kneel before Geza Mott (Aksel Hennie), the ruler’s most powerful minister, he is promptly dispossessed and imprisoned. Furthermore, the sadistic and corrupt official declares Raiden to be without rights and an outlaw. Finally, he forces him to behead his beloved master with his own sword.
The grieving Raiden uses the year after this event to hatch a plan for revenge. The fallen knight manages to gather a band of warriors (including Cliff Curtis) who have been similarly dishonored. Together they vow to put an end to the courtier’s cruel machinations. But to do this they must first storm the fortress, which is considered impregnable…
The “Last Knights” are the “47 Ronin”
If this action seems fundamentally familiar to you, you are not mistaken. “Last Knights” is an adaptation of the historical event surrounding the 47 Ronin that has been transferred to the European Middle Ages. This was a real group of Japanese samurai who avenged the forced suicide of their master in 1703. There was already one in 2013 – which also flopped brutally! – modern film adaptation of the myth starring Keanu Reeves. It should be noted that “Last Knights” was filmed in 2012, but not released until well after “47 Ronin” due to the producers’ difficulties in finding a global distributor.
“Last Knights” was directed by Kazuaki Kiriya. It is the third (and so far last) film by the Japanese, who previously caused a stir with the sci-fi/superhero spectacle ‘Casshern’ and the martial arts/fantasy film ‘The Legend Of Goemon’. Both works were shot almost entirely against a digital background – a technology that was anything but common in 2004 and 2009 respectively. For ‘Last Knights’, Kiriya worked extensively with haptic backgrounds and practical special effects for the first time.
The film, shot in the Czech Republic, impresses with an almost oppressively dark atmosphere, matching the subject. Additionally, Kiriya and his lead cinematographer Antonio Riestra (“Mama”) make the most of the mix of live film and CGI available to them in most scenes.
The large, often quite bloody and brutal action scenes are not particularly innovative, but are choreographed and executed dynamically and at an always appropriate pace. The direction and motivation of his extensive ensemble of actors do not seem to have presented any problems for the director. The entire cast delivers committed and believable performances – despite the occasional flat and clichéd dialogue.
The script Kiriya was working with was clearly much more problematic. Early on, this doesn’t take up enough time to detail the size, location, or era of the strikingly multicultural empire in which the action takes place, or to adequately introduce the majority of the characters involved, their backgrounds, and motivations. As an audience, we are simply thrown into a situation that sometimes seems very vague and we have to accept it as a given. Those who succeed can and will enjoy ‘Last Knights’.
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