| The Last King Of Scotland [2006] | ![The Last King Of Scotland [2006]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AoUfSqaCL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Kevin Macdonald
Actors: James Mcavoy, Forest Whitaker, Gillian Anderson, David Oyelowo, Kerry Washington
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy Used: £1.80
You Save: £18.19 (91%)
New (33) Collectible (2) from £2.91
Avg. Customer Rating:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 744
Format: Pal, Subtitled
Languages: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Running Time: 118 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5039036030922
ASIN: B000NQRW52
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: May 14, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Watched once, excellent condition.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 71-74 of 74 | | « PREV 1 ... | | |
The wrong story about Amin April 17, 2007
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
This film follows the fictional story of a Scottish doctor played by James McAvoy who became the personal physician of the real Ugandan dictator, Ida Amin. A fascinating premise? Yes, but, sadly, not in this case. The story is just ridiculous. I wont ruin it for you by describing how utterly unlikely any of this could happen because I want you to watch the film. Why? Beause of Forest Whitaker. His performance is spell binding. His playful menace is terrifying and I was gripped by his performance every second he was on the screen. If he had been on the screen for every second, I would have given this film 5 stars. Alas, he is not.
James McAvoy is a good enough actor, but he has to battle with a story line that makes your eyes roll with incredulity. The script also makes him so unsympathetic that even in his worse moments - and there are some pretty bad moments for him - it is impossible to root for him, no matter how hard you try.
At the end of the film, we are reminded of the brilliant Entebbe raid by Israeli forces. (Hope I am not giving too much away here?) Now that should have been the subject matter of this film. This would have given the film credibility and given Forest more time on screen. This dumb stupid story is a wasted opportunity.
A few scenes that jar: At a party, the doctor is introduced to British diplomats, one of whom says that it is nice to have another Englishman here. The doctor replies churlishly and indignantly that he is Scots. Of course he is! No Englishman would have mistaken the very obviously Scottish accented doctor for an Englishman. An example of extreme stupidity in the script. In another scene, the doctor goes to one of Amin's parties and goes off with one of Amin's wives to her bedroom. It beggars belief that anyone would do that knowing how thuggish and murderous Amin is and what the consequences would be. There are other scenes as bad but these two stick out.
 The Last King April 10, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
OK, let's address the facts: There have been a number of Oscar winning films that have been crap. There have also been a lot of Oscar winners that have been perhaps under par or over cooked. There have even been garbage quality films with great performances and of course there have been many more that have been criminally overlooked. Whatever your stance on the Academy Awards, they do have a huge bearing on success, rating and future motion picture development. With that in mind, does Oscar-nominated The Last King of Scotland deserve its recent critical accolades? Moreover, in light of his win for Best Actor, is Forest Whittaker's performance better or worse with his new additional post text?
As the pre-credits caption duly informs, The Last King of Scotland, directed by renowned documentary maker Kevin MacDonald, blends factual accounts with fictional portrayals concerning the reign of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Taken from Giles Foden's best-selling novel this picture draws on Amin's fall from Ugandan saviour to paranoid monster. It does so by juxtaposing his relationship with his country and the `friendship' that develops with, the idealistic but brash, young medic Nicholas Carrigan (rising Scot star James MacAvoy). This part of the tale is most certainly added for cinematic and dramatic effect, but the key here is the interplay between the two main protagonists. Carrigan being in over his head and Amin, seemingly, losing his.
James MacAvoy does well in a role that is supposed to be the audience's pull into the world of the brutal but enigmatic Ugandan chief. Initially Nicholas Carrigan is the kind of cocky bastard you want to punch on the nose, but as his situation unravels and the realization that all is not as it seems hits the impetuous young doctor, MacAvoy does evoke certain sympathy. However, this is Whittaker's show. A powerhouse performance of subtlety and unpredictability, his Idi Amin is a flawed, almost Shakespearean, ruler. He is charming, self-effacing and, dare we say it, likeable. This is where MacDonald's strengths shine through. From his near documentary style (tones are washed and grainy, lighting is sparse or natural) and editing of the more brutal elements, it is in fact his decision to show us Amin from Carrigan's perspective, so the audience never really sees the atrocities he is alleged to have undertaken. And although, factually, we know this man has committed genocide, it only becomes apparent as Carrigan finds his attempts to return home thwarted at each turn.
Gillian Anderson is underused in a role that may as well have been an extended cameo and an interesting sub-plot involving the British government kind of falls by the way side as MacDonald's account targets more mainstream thrills toward its conclusion. The director also shoehorns in a love affair involving Carrigan and one of Amin's wives merely to highlight Amin's brutality. It initially appears unnecessary but will hit audiences with a sucker punch that Rocky Balboa would struggle to muster.
Like Blood Diamond, there are scenes of savage violence that test the audience who may be unaware of far away plight and suffering. If the recent run of modern movies is showing a trend returning to that of socio-political messages, then we would do well to listen.
Although the final 15 minutes lapse into more familiar thriller territory, The Last King of Scotland is a well crafted, pseudo documentary, featuring fine acting from its cast, particularly from Oscar Winner Forest Whittaker.
Highly recommended.
Who is worse, the tyrant or the doctor March 29, 2007
2 out of 21 found this review helpful
Such a character as Amin Dada is hateful, and absolutely repulsive. To make a film about him is even worse than the character himself because we cannot dismiss the story at the end of the film and have to realize it is a true story that can happen again any time. Some westerners will come along and install some bloody tyrant in the place of a leader the said westerners will not like. Then they will always manage to get rid of this tyrant after, in this case, six hundred thousand dead. It is always easy for the west to sacrifice a few hundred thousand people in some supposedly backward and underdeveloped country. But the film is disgusting because a young and small Scottish doctor who is running away from his oppressive father gets baited by the monstrous grotesque and disgusting tyrant in some kind of perverse father transfer. This young kid is silly, unconscious, absurd, idiotic, criminal, absolutely spaced out to the point of making love to the President's wife and what's more getting her pregnant. She will end up dismembered and a few other Elizabethan niceties in front of her own children and he will nearly die hanging from butcher's hooks in the chest and bled like a pig if a Ugandan doctor did not save him and help him escape though he will die, and he knew it, five minutes later with a bullet in his head. We can always content ourselves with the idea the tyrant was a tyrant. But how can we satisfy our doubts with the idea that a western doctor could be the willing accomplice for a while at least and then the cowardly accomplice in spite of all his education and oaths. He does not even have the courage of killing himself to maybe remain clean in his own eyes.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne
Whitaker's film from start to finish! March 10, 2007
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
Imagine yourself in forest Whitaker's shoes trying to play one of the most brutal dictators since Hitler, imagine the pressure. Did he do it well? Well his oscar was well and truly deserved because The Last King Of Scotland is Whitaker's movie as he steals every scene.
Based on the (In My Opinion) average book that focuses on Doctor Garrigan (a over shadowed James McAvoy) travelling to Uganda and working as Idi Amin's (Whitaker) personal physician side by side the man taking out all these brutal actions. A hell of a plot that keeps the pace brilliantly from start to finish with a hell of a script.
The scenery in The Last King Of Scotland is tremendous, every image of Uganda is beautiful and captures it in fantastic shots that make you fall in love with the country as soon as he lands in the country. Every cultural aspect of Uganda is beautifully portrayed making even the harshest of scenes look stunning.
So, the problems? McAvoy to me just tries to shine in the film but unfortunately fails due to Whitaker stealing as I said before every single scene making him seem average in a way. Also another flaw of the film is the ending which I shall not spoil but I will say it seems a little too unbelievable even though the whole film is shcoking.
A fantastic start to 2007, worth a look!
Congratulations Whitaker!
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