ViewGuide

Created May 21, 2008 01:21AM PST • Edited May 21, 2008 01:21AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   The Last King of Scotland was a terrific study of character evolution. Its about a young, dumb boy looking for an adventure who ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. His intent is good, but by the time he kisses the 2nd married woman, you just have to think “this kid is not smart.” The story follows Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) and the changes he goes through purely due to his circumstances. He is young and dumb, but you sympathize completely and absolutely want to follow him to the end of road. While I don’t have any knowledge of Amin’s rule in Uganda, I was thoroughly entertained beginning to end.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Superb performances all around. McAvoy was tremendous and Whitaker was absolutely amazing. The characters moved this piece and the cast was perfectly chosen.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

   McAvoy and Forest Whitaker were great to watch. Hands down the best performances I have seen out of both of them. Whitaker is charismatic and loveable but there is a little bit of crazy behind his eyes at all times. You know you shouldn’t like the guy, but you completely do for most of the movie. I especially enjoyed that you find out Amin is a monster at the same time Garrigan does. You want to believe its not true and that its all rumors, but when you think about it, you know that’s not the case.

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

   Kerry Washington as Kay was the most prominant female figure in the movie, but even so she was no more than a co-star. She was a part meant to further McAvoy’s character development and she did so well. Not much is revealed about her past or why she is kept apart from the other wives, but that’s not as important. She plays the part well enough that you don’t need to know the details – you just believe it.

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

   It was great to see Gillian Anderson, even if it was in a minor role. The fact that I didn’t immediately think “hey, its scully!” was tremendous. She blended in well.

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

   The male costars were also there to back up the development of Whitaker and McAvoy. Some were a little exaggerated (the british folks were a bit too snotty, but it fit) but the kept the focus where it should be.

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Its weird to think of a story taking place in the 70’s as a period piece, but it absolutely was. It felt really good, though. The colors especially helped it feel authentic. You were able to follow the story because you weren’t distracted by any of the details, you just bought it and followed.

11. Direction Great 4.0

    I’m not sure what Macdonald has done before, but he captured great performances in this flick. He seems to be very much a character director and this is exactly what this film needed. There was one thing that really bugged me, though – there were a few times were the shot suddenly focused on Amin’s hands and followed their movements. Obviously done for a reason, but I have no idea what that was and as such it was a distraction for me.

12. Play Perfect 5.0

    Each character had their own voice and I can’t think of anything more important in dialogue. Each person sounded unique. While a great deal of that comes to the actors in all cases, the written dialogue, especially McAvoy and Whitaker, was very well done. I also greatly enjoyed that Whitaker would sometimes slip into the native language for a few words and then back to English, just as bilingual people tend to do.

13. Music Great 4.0

    Very unique and conscious of the environment that was on screen.

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5

    There are scenes within the movie that I have replayed themselves in my head over and again. That can be a bad thing (extreme horror movies), but not so in this case. I very much enjoyed the look of this film.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Horrid 4.1

    I place this high for a couple scenes within the movie. There are a few sex scenes, but nothing too graphic. Toward the end, however, there are a couple shots that will catch you off guard and cause some unease.

17. Sex Lewd 3.9

    Sex scenes for sure, but nothing too extended or graphic. Nudity, but not excessively so.

18. Violence Monstrous 4.8

    At the end of the movie when we finally come to the realization that Amin is a monster, there are a couple scenes that will make you cringe. While most of the movie violence happens off screen these shots are deliberate and powerful. Not for the faint of heart.

19. Rudeness Nasty 3.6

    There was quite a bit of language, but really it all comes from McAvoy. Again, the kid is young and dumb. (not that intelligent people don’t curse, but in this case it is used as a character trait)

21. Reality

    Glib 1.3

    While this is based on real people and events, things happen quickly enough to establish the story that its almost hard to believe that it happened. It seems too coincidental that McAvoy ends up where he does. But life does happen like that sometimes and by no means is it distracting here in this movie.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.3

23. Biological Glib 1.3

24. Physical Glib 1.3