A smart, searing thriller with blistering performances from McAvoy and Whitaker. Like the best Graham Greene script Graham Greene never wrote.
The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Dramas
Starring: James McAvoy, Forest Whitaker, Gillian Anderson, David Oyelowo, Kerry Washington
Screenwriter: Peter Morgan, Jeremy Brock
Producer: Andrea Calderwood, Lisa Bryer, Charles Steel
Composer: Alex Heffes
DVD Info
Release:
Oct 1, 2009
DVD Features:
- Keep Case
- Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
- Dolby Digital Surround - French, Spanish
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
- Subtitles - English, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentaries - Kevin Macdonald - Director
- Alternate Scenes - Deleted Scenes (w/ Optional Commentary)
- Behind the Scenes - "Fox Movie Channel Presents: Casting Session: THE LAST Documentaries - 1. "Capturing Idi Amin"
- 2. Forest Whitaker Featurette
- KING OF SCOTLAND"
- Trailers - 1. Theatrical Trailer
- 2. International Trailer
Reviews
Whitaker's chilling, charismatic take on Uganda's General Idi Amin in The Last King Of Scotland stands up there with the great depictions of unhinged dictators like Antony Hopkins' Hitler in The Bunker or Christian Clavier in the 'Napoleon' mini-series.
Hard to believe that an actor previously renowned for his gentleness could play such a monster, but the transformation is seamless.
Whitaker commands his scenes as effectively as he did in Clint Eastwood's film about Charlie Parker.
Whitaker is mesmeric as the bombastic despot, perfectly capturing his oddly comic but ultimately brutalistic nature.
So often the gentle giant, Whitaker changes tack here with an intimidating display of girth and guile, mixed in with the outward signals of untouchable nuttiness.
Whitaker is astounding in this role, moving easily between the happy charm that made Amin champion of his people, and the madness that led this infamous dictator to kill almost half a million of them.
It seems certain Whitaker will get that Oscar nod for superbly conveying Amin’s weird mix of buffoonery and cold-bloodedness.
Whitaker fully captures the menace of the man who murdered more than 300,000 of his fellow citizens, but also - and this is the difficult part - his humour, charm and charisma.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable, confident, dramatically satisfying movie from Macdonald, and incidentally another triumph for Peter Morgan, for whom the period now seems to offer any amount of rich material.
There’s a nihilistic and unmistakeable whiff of Apocalypse Now about the last wild reel, and the carnage left over by the Israeli raid on Entebbe airport.
Starting as a lively adventure, this film slowly twists into a haunting and unforgettable thriller, using real life events to tell a devastatingly powerful story.
Both an enthralling examination of a horrific time and an adrenalin-filled thriller full of wry humour.
Whitaker’s dedicated, nuanced performance is excellent and lifts the film from some unsteady early moments.
... if Whitaker doesn't get an Oscar nomination there is officially no justice.
Would Kanye West say that The Last King of Scotland doesn't care about black people?
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it's Whitaker that kept the film alive when everyone was handing him Best Actor statuettes
...Whitaker's superb work remains the highlight of an otherwise routine effort.
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