Castle entertains, doesn't triumph

Several films have been pulled because of recent events, but "The Last Castle" was released on time, despite featuring a scene where a helicopter is hijacked and used to ram into a building.\nAccording to its advertisements, "The Last Castle" is about leadership. Viewers may see the film as silly and over-ambitious, yet more or less entertaining. Big names like Robert Redford and James Gandolfini may attract attention (and "The Sopranos" fans), but the film is your typical cliche thriller on essentially the same level as "Toy Soldiers." \nArmy General Irwin (Redford) disobeys an order and is indirectly responsible for the death of several soldiers. He admits his guilt and accepts any punishment, giving his character a heroic, martyr-type personality. Sentenced to seven years, he is sent to The Castle, a military prison ruled by Colonel Winter (Gandolfini). Winter has no military experience yet collects little toy soldiers and is envious of Irwin, thus instigating a jealous, provocative war to gain the obedience of the prisoners.\nThe story is fairly far-fetched, and matters aren't improved by the writers' decision to make vicious criminals seem like slaves fighting for their freedom in "Braveheart." And depicting every single one of these gruesome prisoners as a sympathetic character is also stretching it. The last film I can think of to get away with that and make it look good was 1994's "The Shawshank Redemption." And besides…those prisoners were "all innocent." Regardless, "The Last Castle" is certainly not "Shawshank." \nThanks to the talent of some key players, the silliness of the film is a little less noticeable. Gandolfini plays his character with a cartoonish type of evil, but is unpredictable and very fun to watch. Meanwhile, Redford relies on resistance, instead of dramatics. \nSome people will likely accept "The Last Castle" at face value, be entertained, suspend all disbelief and not look too deeply into it. Others may find this tale truly cheesy. But if you're more forgiving than I am, you might just enjoy yourself. I guess I'm just waiting for other epics to be released like "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "The Lord of the Rings." Perhaps, unlike this film, they'll live up to the hype of their trailers.