Sometimes it's harder to watch a movie that's almost good than it is to watch a stinker or a lemon or a cheesy giggle-fest. This is one of those.
I don't want to be too negative about this, so I'll start with the good stuff: Wes Bentley is always a strong, interesting presence in a movie, and he's as good in this as the screenplay lets him be. He's obviously just an actor being coached in stage/film combat, but he's reasonably credible in the role, and I'm always glad to see him getting work.
The outdoor photography and scenery are vivid and pleasing to the eye, although the time-lapse photography thing with the rolling clouds is a bit overused. The soundtrack is suitably grand and sweeping, if a little clichéd; it adds to the experience which is all one can ask, right?
Some of the supporting actors are decent (Julian Sand is his usual elegantly repellent self), some seem unfocused and/or under- rehearsed,and a couple seem to be out of their element entirely.
Mostly the screenplay seems half-baked and underdone. There are holes in the plot and the scale of the events depicted is off. It seems unlikely that one stronghold and a couple dozen guys with swords and sticks could keep an entire planet in thrall, and this undercuts the immersion factor. And seriously, this is supposed to be an alien planet in the far future, but no one has a gun? Really?
Coupled this with all the hand-waving about the "wei" (and a completely unconvincing training montage), the complete lack of actual "samurai", and the derivative nature of the story - bits of "Dune", bits of "Priest", "Star Wars", "Gladiator" and pieces of half a dozen other, lesser works of SF...it adds up to something a lot less than I had hoped.
I watched this for free on a streaming Roku channel, and thought it was an OK time waster. If I'd paid money to see it, I might have been unhappy.
I don't want to be too negative about this, so I'll start with the good stuff: Wes Bentley is always a strong, interesting presence in a movie, and he's as good in this as the screenplay lets him be. He's obviously just an actor being coached in stage/film combat, but he's reasonably credible in the role, and I'm always glad to see him getting work.
The outdoor photography and scenery are vivid and pleasing to the eye, although the time-lapse photography thing with the rolling clouds is a bit overused. The soundtrack is suitably grand and sweeping, if a little clichéd; it adds to the experience which is all one can ask, right?
Some of the supporting actors are decent (Julian Sand is his usual elegantly repellent self), some seem unfocused and/or under- rehearsed,and a couple seem to be out of their element entirely.
Mostly the screenplay seems half-baked and underdone. There are holes in the plot and the scale of the events depicted is off. It seems unlikely that one stronghold and a couple dozen guys with swords and sticks could keep an entire planet in thrall, and this undercuts the immersion factor. And seriously, this is supposed to be an alien planet in the far future, but no one has a gun? Really?
Coupled this with all the hand-waving about the "wei" (and a completely unconvincing training montage), the complete lack of actual "samurai", and the derivative nature of the story - bits of "Dune", bits of "Priest", "Star Wars", "Gladiator" and pieces of half a dozen other, lesser works of SF...it adds up to something a lot less than I had hoped.
I watched this for free on a streaming Roku channel, and thought it was an OK time waster. If I'd paid money to see it, I might have been unhappy.