The Last Templar

This is three hours of my life I won't get back. Some of the poorest acting I have seen and a plot that completely lost its way.

We watched 40 minutes of this low budget film and had to switch off. Boring. Like a channel 5 afternoon film with no star actors and cheesy comments that u know will relate at the end. Husband read the book and loved.

This movie is in two parts, part one being almost 90mins long, although is seems much much longer. Unfortunately when part 2 started playing I just didn't have the attention span left to tackle it and gave up. Maybe part 2 would have been more interesting or exciting, I don't know. Anyhow, I had some laundry to watch dry.

Update- Finally got round to watching part 2 and it was just as I suspected. The Laundry gets a higher rating !

..... epic.

I read the book 3 or so months and ago and loved it. I was looking forward to the film, but have been left a little bit under-whelmed.

For such a long film, it fails to capture both the majesty and intricate detail of the book either in the flashbacks or the current plot.

Might be better if you haven't read the book.

Didn't have the heart to only rate it 'average'.

Not what I was expecting at all. Instead of a deeply intense and gripping serious tale of good versus evil within the Templar myths and the Vatican, I found a film that was very much along the lines of the Indiana Jones' series, a touch of 'Romancing The Stone', and very much a TV-type film that was in 2 Parts lasting well over 3 hours in total.

At first I was somewhat disappointed : I like the serious, dangerous, mysterious and edge-of-seat mysteries about lost manuscripts, ancient history being the centrepiece of a modern thriller. But this was not like the 'Vinci Code' or 'Angels & Demons'.

It was a swashbuckling yarn right in the Indiana Jones' mould, with action, suspense and romance and humour, all rolled into a quite enjoyable romp through modern America and ancient buried treasures around the Mediterranean , with a few flashbacks to the medieval days when the Knights Templars were at the height of their power.

It was more TV than cinema, it was more fun than suspense and drama.

It worked in the uncomplicated way in which it was pieced together. The two leads had good chemistry, the scenes were photographed very well, the production standards were high, the supporting actors good ( including a brief cameo from an ageing hero in the form of Omar Sharif), and a storyline and script that had no pretentions or illusions.

All in all, it is pretty watchable ----somewhat overlong but nonetheless enjoyable and simple, with no need to tax the grey matter.

Not bad. Glad I saw it.