The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die (2023)

I enjoyed The Last Kingdom. As a series it wasn't perfect but it was reasonably watchable. Then along came the movie.

I'll separate this into good and bad. Lets start with whats bad. Unsurprisingly, more woke revisionist history. Yes, female empowerment was a big thing in Saxon times, apparently. I had no idea. I thought women were relegated to mostly domestic roles and had little say.

Questionable scripting. The script feels rushed and jumps into the story which almost feels like the second part of a tale, that needs more of a discovery back story. For those who have not watched the series, it is probably going to be, justifiably, really confusing.

The idiot decisions made by the lead character Uhtred, make little sense, either. Having regained his kingdom, Uhtred decides to back a royal family who, in the series, hung him out to dry.And worse still, they don't even ask nicely (but hey, female empowerment, right?). So off he blithely goes with his friends, risking everything for ungrateful, untrustworthy people, based on a promise, of sorts. Then it turns out the new King is an utter tyrant, influenced by his corrupt, gay boyfriend. As a note, homosexuality was not unheard of in Royal circles but to be this blatant, in this period of strict religiosity, at this level, would risk being dethroned, so it really doesn't ring true. Yet, Uhtred backs the King anyway. A real nobleman would and histrionically did, put distance between them and this kind of Royal behaviour.

Suffice to say, the whole premise, stands on "shaky legs".

Is there an upside? Yes, great acting in spite of a contrived story and decent Norsemen meets Saxon, swordplay action. Certainly, fight scenes were always this franchises strong point and that does not change.

In summary, let down by a weak tea, revisionist story that fails to adequately explain the primary characters inexplicable motivations (not that they really make much sense). Upside is limited. Decent acting and action scenes but really its more a consolation prize, than anything else. Watch the series instead, in this reviewers opinion, its vastly superior.

🎬 The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die (2023) 🎬

**Seven Kings Must Die is an adequate film but an unnecessary disruption to a great ending for a show with a rewarding resolution.**

Seven Kings Must Die is the conclusion of The Last Kingdom series. A conclusion that didn't feel necessary as the story ended with a satisfying resolution and characters we had grown to love over five seasons finding happiness and a rewarding future. Instead, this 2-hour movie is more of a finale that disrupts our story's happy ending and leaves it all with less closure than before. With the promise of a "movie," I was hoping that the film would enjoy greater production quality and resources than the typical show, but that was not the case. Seven Kings Must Die was just an entire season of The Last Kingdom crammed into 2 hours. Fans of the series might enjoy seeing more of their favorite characters (although they might be disappointed with the conclusion of those characters' stories). Unfortunately, those unfamiliar with The Last Kingdom would be confused by the partial narrative they receive with this film. Seven King Must Die might have been a decent finale to an additional season of the show, but as someone who liked how the show ended, I wish I had joined my wife and gone to bed without finishing the film. The show is excellent, so watch that instead. It really isn't as bad as I am sharing, but I was happier as a fan without it, and non-fans would probably not find it worth their time, either.

I really enjoyed the television series' following the adventures of "Uhtred" (Alexander Dreymon) as circumstances forced him to abandon his more Viking roots and support the aspirations of Alfred the Great to create a unified Kingdom of England. Alfred established something of that dream, but the death of his son Edward and the contested accession of the impressionable Aethelstan (Harry Gilby) seems to put the entire project back into jeopardy. That's because the new king is being unduly influenced by his lover "Ingilmundr" (Laurie Davidson) who also happens to have some Danish lineage and confliciting loyalties the king is unaware of. Scenting that there is some fun to be had amidst all this discord, the Danes themselves ally with the pesky Scots and a few equally opportunistic smaller kingdoms to unseat the house of Alfred and reinstate the older kingdoms. What's stopping them? Well despite having left the court many years earlier to return to his home in Bebbanburg in Northumbria, "Uhtred" still feels a sense of loyalty to the new king and so attempts to intercede and prevent some wholesale slaughter and regal betrayal. That's easier said than done, though, as Aethelstan is mistrustful of his motives - egged on by his advisor - and so it appears that "Uhtred" is going to have to fight on two flanks simultaneously - with only a few allies like "Aldhelm" (James Northcote), "Finan" (Mark Rowley) and "Sihtric" (Arnas Fedaravicus) upon whom he hopes he can rely. Dreymon is about as wooden as it gets but he owns this role with plenty of swordplay, plotting and keeping to a minimum the dialogue with which he fails to convince. Davidson also delivers quite well as the medieval Machiavelli and the design of the whole production (OK, Hungary not England) is grubby, grimy and authentic looking from start to finish. It's a fitting follow-on/wrap up from the series' and I liked the twists in the denouement too.