Fantasy Flix: Nun

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

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Hawk the Slayer (1981)

Hawk the Slayer, after seeing both his father and bride die at the hands of his malevolent brother, Voltan, sets out for revenge and the chance to live up to his title. Tooling himself up with the "mind-sword" and recruiting a motley band of warriors: a giant, a dwarf, a one-armed man with a machine-crossbow and an elf with the fastest bow in the land; Hawk leads the battle against Voltan to free the land from the forces of evil and avenge his loved ones. Written by terryt

Director: Terry Marcel
Writers: Terry Marcel (original story and screenplay), Harry Robertson (original story and screenplay)

Alright, I finally get to what I consider the Grand-daddy of fantasy films. Hawk the Slayer was probably THE film that set me off in a love-fest of fantasy flicks. That and the fact that I had already been playing Dungeons and Dragons for few years before I saw it. I absolutely fucking love this movie. It's really hard to explain why to people who are used to giant Hollywood blockbuster type movies why I love this movie so much. If I sit back and try to look at it from an outside perspective, I can see why many people would not think this was a good movie. I'll admit there is probably a huge nostalgic factor going on here. But I try and watch all of the movies I post here just before I post them. I watched this again just now, and still fucking love it.

Yes, the effects are highly dated. But I believe they are well done for the time and the budget. I previously talked about the remake of Conan the Barbarian how I do enjoy a good remake. I'd love to see what Hollywood could do with an updated remake of this movie. I'll guarantee you that I won't like it as much as this beloved original though. As many of you know there is supposed to be an upcoming sequel called Hawk the Hunter in production. I do hope it gets off the ground and made. It has been a few years since I heard about the sequel, so fingers are crossed.

I've read a number of reviews for Hawk before this posting with quite a few being negative. Yes there is a good amount of camp here, and the actors were very young in there careers, but I have no qualms with any of them. Jack Palance is sufficiently over the top, while John Terry seemed quite serviceable as the hero. Terry's acting skills were not the greatest at the time, but I think he did a decent job. My favorite as a child was always Ray Charleson as Crow the elf, who wonderfully appealed to my 12 year old D&D loving attitude. I think the comradery between the Giant and Dwarf were quite amusing.

Overall, If you've never seen this movie, and you actually read my blog. Stop, go now, and watch this. I thouroghly believe any of you who enjoy this blog and enjoy a "bad" movie as much as I do should see this. The story is simple, but fun. The action is good. Not modern Hollywood good, but good. This is family-friendly and a good one to show to your kids.