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A successful intertwining of fact and fiction, The Last King Of Scotland brings us one of the year's best performances: Forest Whitaker as murderous Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Hard to believe that an actor previously renowned for his gentleness could play such a monster, but the transformation is seamless. It's the kind of screen-filling turn that eats other actors for breakfast, so kudos to James McAvoy for holding his own as the Scottish medic who dangerously ventures into Amin's circle of trust.

A made-up character drawn from Giles Foden's source novel, McAvoy's Nicholas Garrigan is the cocky but callow graduate through whose eyes we discover 70s Uganda. Eager to change the world (and sow a few wild oats in the process), he ends up becoming Amin's personal physician, who has a kilt-wearing fondness for all things Scottish. The pair form an unlikely but infectious bond that sours when Nicholas finally wakes up to the fact that he's made a deal with the Devil.

"INVOLVING AND SUSPENSEFUL"

Yes, you can see the turnaround coming the instant the two men meet, but that doesn't make the film any less involving or, in its second half, suspenseful. Erstwhile documentary maker Kevin Macdonald (Touching The Void) directs with white-knuckle urgency, handling the switch from character drama to out-and-out thriller (including scenes of a grisly nature) with an assurance that papers over the story's implausibilities. But he'd still have given us our money's worth if he'd merely switched the camera on, thanks to Whitaker's scarily seductive, force-of-nature portrayal.