The Future Is Riding On One Woman.
Starring: Don Wilson, Katee Sackhoff, Bokeem Woodbine, Steven Bauer, Keith David
Director: Jesse Johnson
2007 | 94 Minutes | Rated R
“Surrounded and outnumbered.” – Tallis
“Attack?” – Anchilles
“Attack!” – Tallis
I actually found The Last Sentinel at a local pawn shop. I saw Don “The Dragon” Wilson’s name on the front cover and knew it was a must buy. Then I saw Katee Sackhoff’s name and it went from must buy to… whatever is more urgent than must buy. I had to check out this relative unknown (at least to me) who is joining Gina Carano in the upcoming female Expendables.
Tallis (Don “The Dragon” Wilson), an electronically enhanced soldier, rescues a girl (Katee Sackhoff) from a failed resistance mission against the drone police army. Together they are the last chance the human race has for survival from the drones.
As I was watching the previews that were shown before the movie started I became worried. They were all for very boring, sappy looking Hallmark movies. Fortunately The Last Sentinel does not appear to be a Hallmark movie at all and I didn’t find it to be boring or sappy at all.
First off, no, The Last Sentinel isn’t the most original idea for a movie. It is like a big combo of Universal Soldier meets iRobot. Robot/drone police have taken over the earth and a cybernetically enhanced soldier is the only hope. Even though it isn’t original it is fun.
The cover of the DVD makes it seem as if Katee Sackhoff is the star of the movie. That is not the case. The entire movie follows Don “The Dragon” Wilson’s character and the girl just comes in and out of his story. It is also interesting that she is never given a name. Even in the credits she is only called Girl. All of that aside, my first impression Ms. Sackhoff her after my first theatrical experience with her is that she’s pretty good. She is very attractive but isn’t a twig of a girl that would be unrealistic in an action role. She looks like she has some muscle to her.
The old, beat up looking Don “The Dragon” Wilson’s Tallis is the real star of The Last Sentinel since he is essentially the last sentinel of the movie. Tallis’ gun has a computer named Angel in it that speaks to him. Tallis is often talking to his gun within feet of the girl as if she is not even there. And of course Girl never hears him talking about her three feet away. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing when Tallis set his gun aside, whipped out nunchuks and took on a group of armed drones and of course won. The Dragon is known for his martial arts and he shows it off here in some spots but much of the action is just militaryish gunplay and explosions.
I say militaryish because most of it is so over the top unrealistic that no military units would ever do some of the things shown in the movie. There are plenty of times where one individual will break away from his group to charge toward the drone army and just get blown away.
The drone armies look like all black Storm Trooper knock offs. They don’t look bad but, again, they aren’t all that original. There is one shot that seems to emphasize their engorged cod pieces for some unknown reason. They bleed neon blue blood as if they are constantly under a black light and their combat sense seems to be as broken as the military’s.
The Last Sentinel has surprisingly good production values. The post-apocalyptic world is created well using smaller sets. You can tell it is a lower budget movie but director, Jesse Johnson his absolute best with what he had. There were a few spots where I found the gun and gore effects to be really all over the place bouncing between really good and downright laughable.
I found myself really enjoying The Last Sentinel from start to finish. The production was much better than I was expecting and the action was very enjoyable even if it was completely unrealistic. I would highly recommend The Last Sentinel to action fans who can ignore the usual DTV downfalls.
Action Movie Fanatix 