Fantasy Flix: December 2011

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Arn: The Knight Templar (2007)

Director: Peter Flinth
Writers: Jan Guillou (novels), Hans Gunnarsson (screenplay)

Arn, the son of a high-ranking Swedish nobleman is educated in a monastery and sent to the Holy Land as a knight templar to do penance for a forbidden love.

I've had this movie for quite a while and hadn't watched it. Arn is a swedish movie, and I'm a lazy movie watcher. I generally don't like to read my movies. I know, I know shame on me. So, I packed this one away for future viewing when I felt up to it. Boy, do I wish I hadn't done that. The majority of this movie is in english. Some is in swedish, some in arabic, but mostly in english so there wasn't that much reading to do. The different languages adds to the realism of the film and this movie is so fucking good you don't even notice them because you're so into the film. So there you have it. I fucking loved this movie and wish I had watched it earlier.

Arn is a very Braveheart like film. While not historically accurate, it gives the Braveheart vibe. The film is very well made and very well acted. Arn looks great, flows good and the action pieces are very well done.

The acting is top notch. Joakim Nätterqvist has great presence and does a wonderful job as the main hero. I have no complaints of any of the actors in this film.

The action scenes are wonderfully done and spaced well through the film. There are a few slow parts, but are instrumental to the story overall. There is a good amount of bloody action here. There is one really dark peek of a nipple, but thats it. I wouldn't call this film family friendly because of the amount of violence in it, but it's not bad. I wouldn't have a problem showing this to my 13 year old son.

It seems odd that I always have more to say about a movie that is bad than I do with an excellent movie like this, but there isn't much to say. This is an excellent film and highly recommended.

Verdict: Highly recommended

The Cast

Joakim Nätterqvist ... Arn Magnusson

Sofia Helin ... Cecilia Algotsdotter

Stellan Skarsgård ... Birger Brosa

Milind Soman ... Saladin

Nicholas Boulton ... Gerard De Ridefort

Alex Wyndham ... Armand De Gascogne

Bibi Andersson ... Moder Rikissa

Fanny Risberg ... Cecilia Blanka

Frank Sieckel ... Sigfried De Turenne

Lina Englund ... Katarina Algotsdotter

Michael Nyqvist ... Magnus Folkesson

Morgan Alling ... Eskil Magnusson

Simon Callow ... Fader Henry

Steven Waddington ... Grandmaster Torroja

Thomas W. Gabrielsson ... Emund Ulvbane

Vincent Perez ... Broder Guilbert

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Dragon Crusaders (Video 2011)

A group of fugitive Knights Templar attacks a pirate ship and they are cursed to turn into hideous monsters. To fight the curse and ultimately save the world, they must defeat the wizard-dragon who is determined to destroy it.

Director/Writer: Mark Atkins

Here we have an offering from Asylum Entertainment. You know, the guys who bring you such wonderful movies as Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, and Meteor Apocalypse. They are also responsible for bringing low budget versions of some Hollywood flicks. I won't bag on them too much though, because at least they will make movies in the fantasy genre, even if they are generally not very good.

Dragon Crusaders is another flick that could be considered Syfy quality. But, to be honest, I've seen a few Syfy flicks that are superior to this one. I'm struggling a bit giving one of my short reviews of this movie, because there were some small portions I did enjoy. But overall, this is not a very good movie at all.

The story itself is straight-forward. A curse is put on a group of ex-crusaders by accident (whoops!). They must kill the big bad in order to break the curse. It's hard to put a finger on what is bad in this movie. The editing is pretty terrible. The characters seem to jump scenes out of nowhere. Props appear out of nowhere. Characters appear out of nowhere.

The acting overall is not very good. I had a hard time figuring out who was supposed to be the main hero here. I decided on Cecily Fay who is pretty kick-ass. Apparently she did all of her own choreography and stunts here, so I give her a lot of credit. She's not the most attractive woman, but her presence gives her a strange appeal that I can't quite put my finger on. Shinead Byrne is adorable and so makes me wish this movie was rated R. As for the men, the only stand-out here is Feth Greenwood who apparently has never acted before. I found him quite amusing and really good.

The effects are what you would expect. That is, not good at all. I've seen Syfy oringals with better effects than this. Although Dragons are in the title, you don't see much of them til the very end. Which is good, because they don't look very good.

The action is where this movie steps it up. Most of these actors are not actors. They are fighters, stunt men and riders and I think it shows. Most of the action scenes are well done and pretty entertaining.

This movie could definitely benefited from an R rating. A good amount of nudity could have enhanced this to something a lot more enjoyable. Overall, I can't really recommend this unless you are a completionist like me. Try to look for the few good things this film offers and enjoy those, but I don't think you'll like this movie overall.