The Last King of Scotland

An ordinary low-budget film with a serious and interesting theme, a captivating performance by Forest Whitaker, and a few rougher scenes, other than that, it is uninteresting. The linear plot has many dull moments, it is quite predictable, and only occasionally does a more intense scene ruffle the waters. I understand the Oscar nomination, but otherwise, this film doesn't have higher ambitions. It's nice that it's based on a true story, but that doesn't guarantee success, although I have no doubt that this symbolic “guarantee of an interesting spectacle” will find its fans, who will defend it to the death. Honestly, it didn't entertain me. (08/04/2008)

A great Forest Whitaker, an underused James McAvoy (shame on the writers for ditching the main character like that!), a nice African setting, an even nicer Gillian Anderson... But the promised drama was where, exactly? Not that I was downright disappointed, but the film is completely lacking anything that should have shocked me or made me think "Wow, that Amin, what a monster..." Of course, I have no desire to see hundreds of thousands of people murdered, but what was it about The Last King of Scotland that was supposed to impress me? The final half hour or so? Yes, it was impressive. Explanatory captions with the number of victims of Amin's atrocity? Nope. (12/07/2012)

I was expecting it to be mainly about Forest Whitaker's performance, which is also partly true, but the film has a story that surprised me quite a bit. I didn't expect anything from it, but it's not that bad. At least not in the beginning. It seems like there will be several interesting storylines here, but in the end, the attention, almost blindly, focuses only on the mad dictator in Whitaker's excellent portrayal. It's a shame, story-wise it's an unused opportunity. Surprisingly, the film is not as harsh as I expected. Or am I really so numb? (04/02/2014)

The environment of Uganda and the figure of Idi Amin are about the only two things that are real here. Everything else is thought up in an uninteresting and often played out story about a naïve young man who falls under the spell of personality, only to snap out of it on time, uncover crimes, and so on. The main character is an unlikeable lout and the only thing that makes him bearable is the charismatic McAvoy, although he has absolutely nothing to work with. This is not the case with Forest Whitaker, but an actor of his stature is somehow expected to play such an impressively rewarding role without overdoing it. The atrocities of Amin's government call for many strong scenes; unfortunately there is an absolute minimum of them here and the film begins to work only in the final twenty minutes. And that's more because of classic thriller tropes than the depiction of real events. This is a huge shame that unnecessarily relegates the film to the role of a reminder that someone like Amin once existed; and if you want to know something more, you will have to do your own research. The creators cleverly managed to cover up the low budget through editing, and the result is visually appealing enough. The Last King of Scotland is a movie that is interesting only because of Whitaker's performance. And even that is not so memorable. To be completely honest, he has many better roles to his credit. (02/13/2007)

The five-star Forest Whitaker in an otherwise average three-star film. This film shows how advanced Euro-American cinema approaches developing countries, where the main character of a film set in central Africa must necessarily be a white European to cater to the audience in economically advanced countries. Thus, the story of a British guy who comes to Africa to have fun and gain some life experience is attached to the drama of a dictator from Central Africa. However, the script failed to convincingly justify the existence of the main character, because the clear standout and magnet of the film is the self-proclaimed president Idi Amin, whom Forest Whitaker undoubtedly gave more charisma than the dictator had in reality. In my opinion, the main character should have been a black African who, for some reason, got close to the new leader of the country and was forced to witness all the madness and face Amin's sudden mood swings and chronic suspicion. It may not have been possible to completely ruin such a promising character as Amin, with long rows of corpses and countless crimes behind him, but Whitaker seized the opportunity and made the most of it, winning an Oscar. I wouldn't say it's his best performance on the big screen, but it is these socially critical roles that are awarded film prizes. Overall impression: 60%. (01/01/2012)