The Last King of Scotland: The dangerous children
Dearbhal from Clare, 28 May 2007
Two children, one naive, thoughtless and reckless; the other paranoid and violent. The first, a fresh-faced medical graduate from Scotland who wants adventure and escape from his stifling middle class background. The second, Idi Amin. If you cannot watch violence (and I can't, so averted at moments), this will be unwatchable. However - it is unmissable for its performances and for the evocation of a period in history. Some scenes test credulity but overall great. One of them grew up. Guess who.
6 people out of 7 found this review helpful
Excellent movie but frightening
Rónán from Dublin, 11 Jun 2007
Forest Whitaker is brilliant as Idi Amin, capturing the charm and brutality of this dictator. The film works well in depicting the hope after his initial coming to power and the downward spiral into corruption, economic suicide and sheer terror. A couple of the scenes in the last 20 mins are not for the faint hearted.
6 people out of 6 found this review helpful
Powerhouse performance
Ciaran from Dublin, 18 May 2007
I've always liked Forest Whittaker in movies. Generally plays interesting characters. But here he plays the role of an African dictator with relish! The story is good, the atmosphere tense, the violence brutal and the lead performance by Whittaker utterly convincing. An excellent movie.
6 people out of 6 found this review helpful
Donal O'Sullivan
Donal from Cork, 26 Jul 2007
I have to say I really was impressed by this film......not to give too much away, the way in which Forrest Whittaker portrays Amin, especially the way in which he captures his extreme paranoia really helps you understand the frought atmosphere in Uganda at the time.......the main character gets swept away by Amin's power and bling only to later realise how different everything really is in Africa...........Hopefully Gerrard and Torres can link up beautifully and bring the league back to Anfield!
4 people out of 5 found this review helpful
brilliant
Charyl from Dublin, 22 Jul 2007
This was absolutely brilliant, didn't expect it to be such a good film. Would not be my usual choice of movie
4 people out of 6 found this review helpful
The Last King Of Scotland
Deirdre from Cork, 17 Sep 2007
I was expecting this movie to be like Hotel Rwanda, but it does not explore much into the hardship experienced by Ugandan people under the rule of Idi Amin. But still its a good movie. Idi Amin and Uganda is seen through the eyes of a fictional young Scottish doctor and what he chooses to see and what he chooses to ignore. Also watch the extras on the DVD and you'll see footage of the real Idi Amin, you will then appreciate how well he is portrayed by Forrest Whittaker.
3 people out of 6 found this review helpful
The Last King of Scotland
STEPHEN from Dublin, 04 Jul 2007
Whittaker is excellent as the despot Idi Amin in this , however the movie moves along quite slowly and never really shows the true extent of his crimes against Ugandans in any great detail .One or two gritty scenes is expected to highlight to the viewer what he was capable of in terms of torture and killing.Watchable for the Oscar winning performance from Whittaker but be prepared to sit through some very slow moving scenes
3 people out of 4 found this review helpful
Too Long
Caroline from Laois, 25 Apr 2008
Forrest is superb but the film was way too long, I know it was trying to cover a fair bit of stuff but it just glazed over things that if you didn't know what actually happened in history the film didn't help you. Then there was the stupid 'sexy woman' thing in the middle of all of it, in a CLEAN (?) bar every other time 'white boy' needed to find her, that was way too stupid. Felt it was almost fictional rather than being based on a real person etc. Overrated. Go watch Hotel Rwanda instead!
2 people out of 7 found this review helpful