The Last Castle (2001)

Directed by Rod Lurie. Starring Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, Steve Burton, Clifton Collins Jr., Delroy Lindo, Samuel Ball, Paul Calderón, Jeremy Childs, David Alford, Robin Wright. [R]

The battle of wills between a disgraced three-star general (Redford) who’s seen plenty of action and an authoritarian colonel (Gandolfini) who’s never seen a battlefield plays out at the military prison where the former is a prisoner and the latter is the commandant. The pieces are there for an engrossing prison picture in the vein of The Hill, but the character roster is littered with stereotypes (the cynical bookie who needs someone to inspire him, the slow but sincere fellow who’s doomed the moment he opens his mouth and reveals a stutter, etc.), and there’s a fundamental problem with the central conflict that drives the action: both “hero” and “villain” are stubborn and conniving in their own ways, and there’s never much of a persuasive reason why the audience should be rooting for the criminals over the peacekeepers. Falls apart in the enormously implausible final act when the prisoners suddenly have access to all manner of tools, weapons and supplies that they can use to mount what appears to be a mutinous takeover, but is ultimately just a high-stakes game of Capture the Flag. Wright went unbilled for her small role.

43/100