I rarely write reviews, but having come to IMDb to see if others had been as appalled with the lack of craft displayed in this film as I was, I was shocked to see that some actually thought that this was a decent effort! Lest others conned into purchasing this abortion of a movie, let me redress the balance.
To give some background, I purchased a DVD of this film, (rebranded 'Thrones & Empires') based on the strong cast list. I watched it with a growing sense of disbelief and horror at how such a slew of excellent actors could be wasted in such a truly poor film.
OK, so it is clearly a film made with a very low budget but, boy, I can't recall when I last saw a film with such awful direction, editing, script (was there one?) and lack of cinematic vision.
The director, Gabriel Axel, should be truly ashamed of himself for wasting such acting talent: to a man (and woman), the performances either wooden or hammy - none inhabit their roles properly. The editing is simply laughable - probably at its worst when scenes start before actors have started moving/acting ... and as for the fight scenes - oy vey! Cliché after cinematic cliché - I felt I was watching a Mel Brooks pastiche at times.
A criminal waste of acting talent - and possibly the worst film I've seen, and I've seen some bad 'uns!
To give some background, I purchased a DVD of this film, (rebranded 'Thrones & Empires') based on the strong cast list. I watched it with a growing sense of disbelief and horror at how such a slew of excellent actors could be wasted in such a truly poor film.
OK, so it is clearly a film made with a very low budget but, boy, I can't recall when I last saw a film with such awful direction, editing, script (was there one?) and lack of cinematic vision.
The director, Gabriel Axel, should be truly ashamed of himself for wasting such acting talent: to a man (and woman), the performances either wooden or hammy - none inhabit their roles properly. The editing is simply laughable - probably at its worst when scenes start before actors have started moving/acting ... and as for the fight scenes - oy vey! Cliché after cinematic cliché - I felt I was watching a Mel Brooks pastiche at times.
A criminal waste of acting talent - and possibly the worst film I've seen, and I've seen some bad 'uns!