The Last Templar (2008/TV Movie/RHI/Genius DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Telefilm: C-
Mira
Sorvino is a good actress, but she has put herself into a genre corner that
does not help her career any and despite her fine talents, Paolo Barzman’s The Last Templar (2008) adds Victor
Garber, Omar Sharif (in one of his last roles) and Scott Foley in an attempt to
do another Indiana Jones-type romp with fantasy and religious elements that are
stillborn on arrival.
The
performances are occasionally lively and the idea of dressed Templars showing
up to do what they do inadvertently come across more like Monty Python than
anything mysterious or foreboding. The
whole thing seems aimed towards younger viewers and seems condescending
overall. Except for a few minor
highlights, yet another dud from RHI.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot on HD of some kind and the
result is a softness throughout that undermines so much of the “authenticity”
of the presentation, including a phony attempt to add noise to older footage to
say it is from the far past. We see this
kind of noise in the digital age all the time.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is a little better, but not by much, with
barely good dialogue recording and an awkward soundfield that never excites for
the genre. Extras include stills and a
making of featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
