It seems strange to me that director Rod Lurie would go from something as strong and character driven as The Contender, to The Last Castle, a routine action picture that features elements of several better movies. I guess the guy just wanted a change of pace.

In The Last Castle, Robert Redford plays a highly decorated officer who is sent to a military prison after disobeying the chain of command. While there, he develops a bond with his fellow prisoners while constantly butting heads with warden James Gandolfini (The Sopranos).

This movie actually starts off quite promising but then it turns into a routine prison film, ultimately drowning in sappy melodrama. I'd say that this country needs a good, strong patriotic film at the moment, but The Last Castle is far too processed to be the one we're waiting for.

Redford seems to be going through the motions here. It's almost as if he's bored with the material. He does have some great moments when sharing the screen with Gandolfini, but these moments are scarce. Gandolfini is solid as the ruler of this prison but this character is all too familiar. I've seen him in many other films, most notably The Shawshank Redemption. Mark Ruffalo shows up as a cynical inmate who runs little gambling pools within the prison. There was big buzz around this actor when he made his debut in last year's You Can Count on Me, but in The Last Castle, there really isn't much to distinguish him from anyone else in the picture. There are bit performances that I enjoyed but there really wasn't a standout in this movie. In fact, most of the characters here are surprisingly one dimensional.

While I usually enjoy Redford's performances, I feel he was all wrong for this part. Perhaps the movie would have been more effective if it would have starred someone like Clint Eastwood.

While I did enjoy some of The Last Castle's feel good atmosphere, and thought that the Gandolfini/Redford dynamic was effective, I was never completely won over by this film. I found it far too predictable and void of any realism. A big question I had was about the prisoners themselves. The majority of their demeanor suggested that they were all real, hardened criminals. Not one of them seemed to have a soldier mentality (With the exception of Redford and a couple of others).

There is no doubt that Lurie is a talented film maker. He's proven that. Unfortunately, the predictable The Last Castle doesn't represent this film maker at his best.