The Last King of Scotland (R) ★★★

A volcanic, career-defining performance from Forest Whitaker absolutely hijacks The Last King of Scotland and the Oscar race. He also rescues the movie from its disappointing--albeit powerful--mediocrity.

Story

Idi Amin was the ruthless dictator of the African nation of Uganda throughout much of the 1970s. He was ultimately blamed for thousands upon thousands of deaths (some estimates place the death toll in the hundreds of thousands) during his tenure. The Last King of Scotland is a fictionalized version of Amin’s (Forest Whitaker) reign of terror. Giddy after graduating from med school in Scotland, Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) randomly picks Uganda to be his first post-college destination. When he gets there, the locals are abuzz after the new leader has been sworn in and vows to right all that is wrong with the country. After a chance encounter with Amin, Garrigan bears witness to his dichotomous personalities, as the ruler goes from threatening to charming on a whim. Amin is so taken with the young doctor--and vice versa--that he invites Garrigan to become his personal physician. A doctor-patient relationship leads to close friendship and before long, Garrigan is the very center of the dictator’s inner circle. And not long thereafter, he learns that there is no worse place to be.

Acting

For over 20 years now, we’ve all bore witness to Whitaker’s mastery of acting. His choices have been eclectic and his performances consistently great, but it’s always been a case of, “And, oh, Forest Whitaker’s great, too.” Until now. Whitaker makes what can only be described as an earthquake of an entrance. It’s clear in the movie when Amin will first appear and yet the actor still manages to catch us off-guard. Amin’s manic personalities are child’s play for Whitaker, but he never has fun with it, which is where other actors might have gone overboard. He is now leading the race for the Best Actor Oscar, too. Not that the supporting players are too shabby, though. McAvoy's (The Chronicles of Narnia) Garrigan is actually the heart of the story, allowing for more screen time than Whitaker, and the Scotsman soaks up every second. He sticks out like a sore thumb in the film, but not only because he’s from the opposite side of the earth; it’s because McAvoy, the actor, makes sure to react differently to everything. In addition, former X-File-r Gillian Anderson turns in a solid, if short, apperance--and you’ll be surprised how amazingly hot she is! Kerry Washington (Mr. and Mrs. Smith), as one of Amin’s countless neglected ex-wives, is superb as well.

Direction

The contrast between Last King's first and second half is as night-and-day as Amin's personalities. In the first half, director Kevin MacDonald (Touching the Void) allows the story to simmer to the point of perfection; in the second half, he gets sloppy, as though in a rush to finish a different movie than the one he started. The ending, also a mix of truth and fable (plucked from the highly acclaimed book by Giles Foden), quickly spirals towards its conclusion, which is tough to watch for very different reasons. But prior to that--even at some points in the uneven second half--MacDonald paints a beautiful monster out of Amin. Maybe more importantly, he paints a beautiful picture of African ambiance, an indirect thank you to the Ugandan people that allowed unprecedented access to their country for the sake of Last King. Even with MacDonald's occasional blunders, it's hard to deny the power of his film.

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 3 stars.