Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		1.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

The Last Sentinel Blu-ray Movie Review

An extravaganza of C-movie goodness.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 9, 2010

Consider yourselves dead already, and the fear will go away.

The Last Sentinel was made for 10-year-old boys and grown-ups who are still 10-year-old boys at heart. It's for boys who run around the neighborhood pretending to shoot each other with plastic pistols and rifles with orange tips and for men who once played such games and now probably own a few real examples of the toys they grew up with. The Last Sentinel is low-grade rubbish through and through, but it's somewhat entertaining low-grade rubbish, and those in its select target audience will probably find something to like about it. With virtually nonstop gunfire and explosions, the movie only slows down long enough to help move whatever semblance of a plot there is along -- usually through the feminine voice of a weapons-mounted computer -- and for a few lingering shots of a naked Katee Sackhoff ("Battlestar Galactica") for good measure. A critic blurb on the back of the box of this made-for-TV Sci-Fi/Action film compares it to the "feel" -- presumably referring to the unrelenting and gritty visuals -- of Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down. The Last Sentinel definitely tries to copy that style, and, for a movie of this caliber, it does a fair job in doing so. Nevertheless, it always feels like the C-grade clunker that it is, particularly considering that The Last Sentinel's budget was probably dwarfed by what Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott spent on cocktails for their respective films' wrap parties.

Tallis doesn't take kindly to negative reviews.

In a post-apocalyptic future, man has been all but exterminated by fearless and powerful drones created to supplant human beings in the world's police forces. These automatons ultimately turned on their creators, leading to a disastrous nuclear holocaust that has left the world in ruins. Tallis (Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Future Kick) is a lone wanderer, the last of a technologically-enhanced squad of soldiers who survives on strength, cunning, and the aid of his conversational computerized rifle, Angel. Tallis witnesses a drone attack on a human convoy. He rescues the sole survivor, a mysterious girl (Sackhoff) whom he trains to become his fighting companion. She has knowledge of a facility that might hold the secret to winning the war over the drones, and the pair set off on a dangerous mission to save humanity.

Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down comparisons aside, The Last Sentinel's is really more like The Terminator: robots designed to replace human beings on police forces turn on their creators and start a brutal war, leaving a few scattered survivors to mount an underground resistance. The same end, more or less, but at least The Last Sentinel didn't copy the whole SkyNet angle. Stylistically, The Last Sentinel is more akin to any number of cheap Sci-Fi/Action films of years past; A.P.E.X. comes to mind, though even that one sports better production values and a more coherent and involved plot. The Last Sentinel builds its story and the history of its world through a series of old television new clips (for which, had they been part of some make-believe story for a Film-TV-Digital Media or Journalism class, the students would have received failing grades) and several flashbacks to the war against the machines, er, drones. All of it is nothing but a charade through which the filmmakers can reasonably continue to show Tallis and his talking gun running around and shooting stuff for 90 minutes in what is maybe the least-convincing post-apocalyptic environment ever captured on film. Blowing some smoke and tossing some random debris in front of the camera for exteriors and shooting in a couple of abandoned buildings for interiors does not a nuclear wasteland make, but hey, this is The Last Sentinel; nothing matters except guns and explosions.

Unfortunately, the film's technical problems don't end with its shoddy sets and unconvincing apocalyptic landscape. The picture features some low-grade acting, but it's hard to fault anyone when this is the type of material they're asked to work with. The picture does earn some legitimacy with a couple of recognizable faces, including Keith David (The Thing) and Bokeem Woodbine, the latter of whom is probably best known for parts in The Rock and The Big Hit. Meanwhile, lead actor Don "one expression" Wilson lumbers through the film with a blank -- but tough -- stare on his face. It's actually not a terrible effort from Wilson, considering his character's circumstances; careful, battle-scarred, and his humanity probably drained from his tough training and the lack of a societal structure would undoubtedly leave most anyone walking around with a thousand-yard stare on their faces. Unfortunately, shoddy special effects -- including poorly-realized exploding heads and heavy machine gun tracer rounds that look more like laser bolts -- drag the movie down but also lend to it some legitimacy as so-bad-its fun cheese. Most damning, though, is the sheer repetitiveness of every action scene, including about half of which in some way end up with a bad underwater shot of Tallis swimming around to save his life. The movie does little more than show Wilson's and Sackhoff's characters shooting drones (and no doubt the same three or four get killed over and over again throughout), and the movie's schtick starts to wear very thin about halfway through, resulting in an experience that's borderline intolerable, saved only by the sheer goofiness and the aforementioned so-bad-its-fun element that makes The Last Sentinel a good beer-guzzling Saturday night party movie.

The Last Sentinel Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Last Sentinel's 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer is of typical Echo Bridge quality, meaning that it barely passes as high definition content. Grain and noise are so prevalent in the movie that one scene looked like there was a thick fog covering the screen, visibility about three feet. Detail is decent at best, with some of the run-down locations showing off chipped paint, broken windows, rusted metal, and random debris well enough. Facial detail is never striking, but characters never look smooth and textureless, either. Colors are drab, seemingly deliberately so, but even some brighter shades -- a crop of red drones that show up for the final act -- lack even a hint of vibrancy. A stray vertical line pops up in one early scene, and a screenful of horizontal lines randomly appear several times throughout. Blacks are uneven and unconvincing, and heavy noise often buzzes about the darker corners of the screen. Some slight blocking and banding and a couple of errant speckles and splotches find their way into the transfer from time to time, though none of these prove to be that big of a deal in the grand scheme of the entire transfer. Much of the problem here seems to lie with the film's micro-budget and miniscule production values, but no matter the source of the ugliness, The Last Sentinel just doesn't make for a anything better than a below-average Blu-ray transfer.

The Last Sentinel Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ah, Echo Bridge, purveyors of multiple audio tracks all of little value. The Last Sentinel is no different, boasting no less than four English-language offerings: DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes and a pair of 2.0 tracks, one each of the Dolby Digital and PCM varieties. The latter two -- even the PCM track -- are simply awful. Cramped, muddled, and lacking, of course, a surround structure, they pale next to the 5.1 offerings. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track isn't as aggressive as the hefty and amped-up DTS mix, making the latter the perfect companion to the movie's cheesy goodness. In the DTS mix, gunfire erupts from every speaker and, during the battle scenes, the soundstage becomes home to a wide variety of noise. Yes, that's pretty much The Last Sentinel's DTS track in a nutshell. It bombards the listening area with a deluge of jumbled noise, none of which is particularly clear or realistic. It's the antithesis of Saving Private Ryan, really; both are loud, but only one can boast of a realistic sense of space, clarity, and immersion. Surrounds are in constant use, again, though, spewing little beyond a random collection of warlike noises. Atmospherics are mostly non-existent; perhaps the best scene features Tallis retrieving a piece of technology from a fallen comrade's cranium as water gently drips all around the listening area. There's also some heavy, seat-rattling bass here and there; chapter eight brings the most in the movie, and while it's powerful, it lacks that tightness and realism of the best low ends, this one more rumbling just for the sake of rumbling. Fortunately, there are never any problems with dialogue reproduction. Like the movie, the DTS mix is fun in that it's so obviously over-pumped, but it matches the movie well and is the best track with which to enjoy the film.

The Last Sentinel Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unlike most other Echo Bridge titles, The Last Sentinel actually contains a couple of supplements, notably an audio commentary track with Producer Bill Gottlieb and Director/Writer Jesse Johnson. The track is a little over-excited considering the quality of the movie, but there are some decent discussions revolving around the casting, maintaining a semi-realistic tone throughout the movie, filming locations, props, shooting scenes that weren't in the script, editing the film together, and other typical commentary observations. Also included is Making of 'The Last Sentinel' Featurette (1080p, 15:45), a pretty standard piece that features cast and crew interview snippets and behind-the-scenes footage. It looks at the making of several stunt scenes, the cast's enjoyment of their parts and training for the film, and the special effects and pyrotechnics used in the film.

The Last Sentinel Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Don't be fooled by the cover; The Last Sentinel isn't wall-to-wall Katee Sackhoff. Don "The Dragon" Wilson -- he of Soft Target, Sci-Fighter, and Bloodfist VIII: Trained to Kill fame -- is the focus in this curiously entertaining "so bad its good" cheese-fest. The Last Sentinel is more a victim of its budget and production values than anything else. Not that this was ever going to be a good movie, but it could have been better with some more money and TLC thrown its way. Discerning viewers need stay far, far away, but for those who fall into the target audience -- Action/Sci-Fi movie junkies who grew up playing war in the backyard -- it's worth adding to the collection. Just make sure that friend that snubs his nose at anything with fewer than three Oscar nominations doesn't see it on the shelf. Anyone familiar with Echo Bridge's output will know exactly what to expect with The Last Sentinel's Blu-ray release: a rough high-def picture and a myriad of subpar soundtracks. Unlike most others, though, this one actually has a couple of extras. Those that enjoy loud and violent dreck could do worse than spending a few dollars on this budget title. Like Cyclops, The Last Sentinel comes recommended for its so-bad-its good qualities.