Renowned tactician, Lieutenant General Eugene Irwin (Robert Redford) has been 
Court Marshaled and sentenced to serve ten years in military prison.  Initially, 
his intentions are "to serve his time, and go home".  When faced with the 
injustices inflicted on his fellow prisoners by the prison warder, Colonel 
Winter (James Gandolfini), he develops a new goal: To see Col. Winter removed 
from his post.   After discovering that a military prison warden will be 
relieved of command if he loses control of his prison, Irwin organizes a 
tactician's prison riot.

For the most part, 'The Last Castle' is a predictable Hollywood movie.  
Everybody's hero, Robert Redford, fights for the little guy being oppressed by 
the overbearing tyrant.  Despite being fairly uninspired, the excitement of the 
story is a great deal of fun.  The climactic battle scene at the end of the 
movie is reminiscent of 'Hook', both in gadgetry and sensationalism.

Only 52% of military prisoners are white. Without counting, it seemed like 'The 
Last Castle' isn't faithful to this statistic.  To be sure, this isn't an 
egregious error as minorities play many of the supporting characters; it was 
just an observation to share.

James Gandolfini is an actor of emerging fame, perilously on the cusp of being 
inexhaustibly type cast.  While the role of Col. Winter doesn't exactly break 
with the trend of gruff, ?ber-machismo of Gandolfini's defining roles, there are 
deeper more sensitive traits to this character.  Winter is genuinely humbled by 
having Irwin, one of his lifelong heroes, in his institution, even as a 
prisoner.  The progression from humility to frustration to rage is believably 
executed by Gandolfini's performance, a rarity in current Hollywood cinema.