THE LAST CASTLE

Directed by Rod Lurie

With Robert Redford and James Gandolfini

Playing at CineMark 12 in Hadley

The Last Castle is the product of a tryst between The Shawshank Redemption

and A Few Good Men. The battle of wills that forms the tension for Castle is

straight from these two parents – what happens when roles are reversed, and

the better man isn’t where he should be?

Robert Redford plays general-turned-prisoner Eugene Irwin, a three star

hero whose one mistake cost the lives of eight American soldiers. Sentenced

to a maximum security stockade, Irwin meets the warden Colonel Winter.

Winter, played to the hilt by James Gandolfini, respects and admires the

general. Hell, he even has a copy of Irwin’s book. But when Irwin

accidentally insults him, it sets forth a contest of egos that draws a line

in the sand.

Irwin adjusts slowly to prison life, and we watch as the hapless inmate

Aguilar (Clifton Collins Jr.) tries to salute the general. Schooled by the

warden that saluting is not allowed between prisoners, Aguilar is forced to

stand at attention and salute through a rainy night. When the punishment

goes on longer than allowed, Irwin interferes, earning him a rebuke from

Winter and his adjutant, Captain Peretz (Steve Burton). Irwin’s punishment

for stopping Peretz from hitting Aguilar is to move a pile of rocks all day.

The rocks were part of the prison’s original wall, which Winter (who is

obsessed with history) is forcing the prisoners to rebuild. Irwin, like

Redford, is 64, and many inmates – like prison bookie Yates and tough guy

Beaupre (played by Mark Ruffalo and Brian Goodman, respectively) – bet that

he isn’t going to make it.

In a completely unsurprising move, Irwin does finish the punishment. He

distributes the cigarettes he won in the bet to the general inmate

population, earning him their trust. He uses this trust to build a sense of

pride among the prisoners. The old wall, he says, is theirs, not Winter’s.

Rebuilding it becomes a way of building up their confidence, and when Winter

realizes this, he decides to destroy it.

Aguilar takes a rubber bullet to the head, which kills him. His death is no

accident. Winter ordered the head shot, something he’s done in the past, the

inmates tell Irwin.

Irwin gets sucked into the inmate’s rage over Winter’s harsh policies.

Irwin decides that Winter needs to go, and cites regulations that say if a

warden loses control of his facility, he will be dismissed.

What follows is unclear. Lurie never shows you the preparations for the

uprising, just the plan, laid out on a chessboard. Although Irwin tells his

troops, and the audience, exactly what he’s planning, the audience has no

idea how they are going to pull it off.

When it does happen, it’s a tour de force that can only be truly

appreciated on the big screen. The battle between the guards, who have the

best in non-lethal weapons, and the prisoners, who use medieval tactics and

a trebuchet, is really, really, well. . . cool. The use of non-lethal

weapons and phalanxes means that while the fight rages on, it’s not a bloody

one. Lurie doesn’t need to fill the screen with blood to make it seem like a

battle is going on.

The movie, while seemingly unoriginal – is entertaining, and that makes up

for a lot. Plus, its got three great performances by some of Hollywood’s

best actors; Redford, Gandolfini, and Delroy Lindo (as General Wheeler.) The

story is an excellent balance of drama and occasional instances of comedy.

And it also has a trebuchet, a type of catapult, which is just fun to say.

Say it with me now. Trey-boo-shay. Wasn’t that fun?