Though The Last Castle is about an inmate revolt in a U.S. military prison, it's hard to imagine a more pro-military movie.

Robert Redford plays a three-star general, stripped of his rank and imprisoned, who persuades fellow inmates to reclaim their dignity and fight a just war against a cruel warden (James Gandolfini). Directed by military school graduate Rod Lurie, the film bristles with jutting jaws, stiff backs and a sense that the military life can strengthen character and offer redemption.

While this bizarre film deals with oppressive institutions (the Army), thematically, the film is as gung-ho as John Wayne's Green Berets. Irwin (Redford), a much-decorated American hero who survived years of torture in a Hanoi prison, has been sentenced to five years for disobeying orders. On his first day, he seems to go out of his way to insult the cowardly but sadistic warden. Pretty soon, the warden has the poor old warrior labouring in the prison yard, moving a huge pile of rocks.

Against all odds, including those provided by the obligatory prison bookie (Mark Ruffalo), Irwin manages to move all the rocks from Point A to Point B. Guess what happens next? If you've seen a prison movie before, you'll know. In fact, you might want to prepare a prison-flick check list for the action to come. The only element missing is a pet mouse.

Irwin quickly becomes a hero to the other prisoners, who resemble nothing more than rowdier members of a jock fraternity. There doesn't seem to be a rapist or a cold-blooded murderer in the bunch.

Unfortunately, Redford comes off as an absent-minded, leather-faced college professor, lecturing anyone who will listen on the history of the salute and the oh-so-symbolic method of how a commander "conquers a castle." To be blunt, he's just plain boring and by any stretch of the imagination do we believe this character.

Fortunately, he has some pretty good dramatic lieutenants at his side. Beside Gandolfini's sturdily hateful Winter, Mark Ruffalo impresses as a weasely bookie-cum-informant, as does Paul Calderon, himself a real-life Army veteran and an ex-con, as Irwin's aide-de-camp. Also notable is newcomer Brian Goodman, whose quiet performance as Beaupre goes through a subtle transformation from racist thug to burly ally in a manner that seems far less clichd than it actually is.

The Last Castle is full of such near-misses, and it's to Lurie's credit that he navigates this minefield of prison- and military-movie cliches without eliciting too many groans. However, for these viewers to appreciate the filmmakers' skill, they have to endure scenes that often look like outtakes from the A-Team.This often erupts in, and certainly ends in, a display of unabashed patriotism that will placate even those who find the negative elements of the story unpalatable. At times this would hold up even if Lurie had only ever worn a Cub Scout uniform. The director has an ear for dialogue, gleaning dark emotions from seemingly banal exchanges.

For those of us simply looking for a good story well told, The Last Castle, with all its excesses and brutish posturing, is a mixed blessing. But it certainly holds our attention.

Out now.

Andrew Richards

December 28, 2001 15:01