I have no problem with historical fiction.  Some of the best tales of the past that I have read or seen are of this variety.  On the literary side, my recommendation is Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series.  When it comes to film, you cannot do much better than Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003).  These stories are, coincidentally, set during the Napoleonic Era, and they use real events as a backdrop for their exciting fiction.  And then there are movies like The Last Legion (2007).  It takes Arthurian legends, sprinkles in some history about the fall of the Roman Empire, and spits out a cinematic mess that is boring and silly.  I am being harsh, and part of my bitterness is due to the fact that there is virtually no Catholicism in it, which would be proper to the times.  At any rate, I guess I will tell you about the rest of it.

The first scene in The Last Legion features young Romulus Augustus (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) surveying the city of Rome from atop a massive statue.  Somehow, he makes it down from the height and into the camp of the newly arrived Aurelianus Ambrosius (Colin Firth).  The Roman general has returned to the imperial capital with his men, but finds the time to catch Romulus trying to steal a sword.  Aurelianus orders one of his men to cut off the boy’s hand, but a wandering magician, Ambrosinus (Ben Kingsley), prevents Romulus’ maiming.  Instead, Ambrosinus brings Romulus to the kid’s parents, and stays on as a sort of teacher.  However, the next day is a big day for Romulus, who is to be crowned the next Roman Caesar.  When this happens, Romulus’ father, Orestes (Iain Glen), dispenses with Ambrosinus’ services, and the philosopher departs the city at Aurelianus’ direction.  Not long thereafter, the city is sacked by the Goths, who want to take control of the territory for themselves.  Romulus’ parents die in the attack.  Their leader, Odoacer (Peter Mullan), initially has little use for Romulus.  If not for the intervention of Ambrosinus, Romulus would have been executed.  Instead, Odoacer sends Ambrosinus and Romulus under guard to the island of Capri to be held as hostages.  Meanwhile, Aurelianus has recovered from the battle and meets with the representative from Constantinople, Theodorus Andronikos (Alexander Siddig), who offers Romulus asylum in the Eastern half of the Roman empire.  With this agreement in place, Aurelianus sets off after Romulus with help from the Byzantine guard sent with Romulus, Mira (Aishwarya Rai).  Not that this matters, but after he recovers from his shock of learning that she is a woman, the two become an item.  On the way to Capri, they collect a few more men familiar to Aurelianus and make their assault.  In the midst of the skirmish, Ambrosinus, as a keeper of the legends related to Julius Caesar’s sword (it is supposed to be Excalibur), guides Romulus to its location within the mountains of Capri.  Once the boy has found it, he is about to exact revenge on the man who killed his parents, Wulfila (Kevin McKidd), but the Goth wakes up before being run through.  There is a mad scramble to escape, and in the process, Wulfila finds where Romulus has obtained the blade, which talks of it being forged in Britannia.  That is modern-day Great Britain, and naturally, that is a clue for the second-half of the film.  For the moment, Aurelianus gets Romulus to Nestor (John Hannah), a Roman Senator with whom there is hope for a restoration of the Western empire.  Instead, Nestor reveals that he is in league with Odoacer, and our heroes must flee once more.  It is at this point that they decide on Britannia, which is of significance for Ambrosinus given the legends around Excalibur.  For the more practical-minded Aurelianus, it is the last location of the Ninth Legion . . . which is a bit of historical silliness.  The final decision belongs to Romulus, and it is to Britannia that they sail.  However, their landing there has its dangers.  More immediately, there is the local despot, Vortgyn (Harry Van Gorkum), who is also Ambrosinus’ mortal enemy.  It is Wulfila who brings Vortgyn news that not only is Ambrosinus on British soil, but the sword has come, too.  They join forces, with Vortgyn wanting Excalibur and Wulfila being after Romulus.  Aurelianus and company understand that it is only a matter of time until these groups find them, and they pin their hopes on finding the Ninth.  However, when they get to the fort on Hadrian’s Wall where last they had been stationed, there are no Roman soldiers to be found.  Eventually, the remnants of the unit emerge, but they have integrated themselves into the local population.  While Romulus is given shelter for the moment, they are pressured to give Romulus up when Vortgyn threatens.  It is Romulus that reminds them that despite being in a fallen empire, they are still Romans.  With that, Aurelianus takes whoever is willing to fight back to the position on the wall to give battle to the Vortgyn and Wulfila’s army.  During the conflict, for mysterious reasons, Romulus wanders out onto to the field where he has to be rescued by Aurelianus.  What truly saves the day is Ambrosinus defeating and killing Vortgyn.  There is one last duel, though, between Aurelianus and Wulfila, in which the former is wounded.  Ultimately, Romulus gets his revenge, and after giving Aurelianus a reviving peptalk, tosses Excalibur away and declares peace.  The sword, by the way, spirals away and neatly lands hilt up in a stone.  Apparently, decades later when Ambrosinus, who now calls himself Merlin, is tutoring young Arthur (Rory Finn), nobody bothers picking up the blade.

When you hear names like Excalibur and Merlin, the former of which is said often in The Last Legion, you might think about the so-called destiny of these people if you know your Arthurian lore.  Indeed, destiny is discussed a great deal in the film, but it is not a concept supported by the Catholic Church.  If you want a Christian form of this idea, there are the Calvinists, who believed in what was called pre-destination.  There have been others, too, who have posited that God had a specific number of people in mind who will get into Heaven.  If this is true, then, what would be the point of being good?  Put differently, if your fate was already sealed in eternity with the Almighty, then there would be nothing you could do to prevent this from happening.  Some would call that an over-simplification because those who are going to receive such an award would be those already created by God to be suitable for such an honor.  By this logic, there was little that Romulus could have done to jeopardize his position as the last emperor of Rome.  This does not fit with the film, nor does it work theologically.  With the story, Romulus has little control over the events around him.  Instead, he owes everything to Ambrosinus and Aurelianus, and those that helped them.  Theologically speaking, this all falls apart because God gave us free will, and it is the heart of faith.  We can choose God, or not, and it is in that choice that our eternity depends.  Along the way, we can do things that can be considered bad or good, but it is the desire to be with Him forever that is meant to keep us moving in the right direction.

As for The Last Legion, the right direction would be away from this movie.  It is remarkable that so many familiar actors had a part in it.  They do their best, but it is cheesy, at best, and nonsensical at its worst.