WolfgangHorizon Not sure where to start. Suffice it to say that I expected much, much more out of this. The first half hour absolutely dragged--and it didn't really hold my interest after that, either. It became an absolute chore to continue to the end.The very first thing I noticed, about 15 minutes in, is the absolutely INCESSANT musical score. I kid you not: if the movie is about 139 minutes long, then music is playing probably for about 130 minutes. It was like they were constantly trying to wring as much pathos out of the shots as possible, by absolutely drowning them in a rather mediocre orchestral soundtrack. As an audiophile, this was my first clue that I was perhaps in for a less-than-thrilling ride. Properly done, a nice soundtrack can punctuate the dramatic scenes. In Arn, their confidence was so low with the scenes that they felt they should create a 2 hour music video.The acting is, again, mediocre and occasionally just plain bad. The script and the actors were all sub-par, along with the direction, which consists of quickly cut scenes, allowing no room for the characters/scenes (or the audience) to breathe or just evolve organically. Within 20 minutes, I could tell I wouldn't care a jot about what happens to these wooden characters. There is no real reason to empathize with any of them, because they are all so stock and cliche, and the direction gives us next to nothing as regards their motivations, their thoughts, or any subtle, humanizing facets to find them interesting enough to care.The scenery of the movie is not half bad--perhaps its only saving grace. The story went by, with endless music, and by the end I felt I had seen it all before, and done much, much better. It was all rather tiresome, and I surely will not be recommending this to anyone.

WakenPayne The one main reason why I wanted to see this is mainly because of the caliber of the cast. I enjoyed watching Gustaf Skarsgard, Vincent Perez, Bibi Anderson and Stellan Skarsgard in previous movies. With one or two recommendations I decided to take a look at this.The movie's plot (remember this is the 3 hour version) is that Arn is a boy who fell off a tower trying to catch the prince's crow. His parents pray a deal with God that if he survives to put him in a monastery. He survives and years later he is a monk who is taught to fight by the former Templar Guilbert (Vincent Perez). He soon falls in love with a woman named Cecilla. Soon after that it is revealed she bears his child. Arn and Knut (The rightful ruler of the throne but now isn't because his father was killed by the current king) go and ambush the King and kill him. Because Cecilla bears Arn's child and that he killed the king when Arn and Cecilla weren't married. Cecilla is sentenced to 20 years at a nunnery and Arn is to be sentenced at a monastery, then after that Arn is asked to fight at The Crusades.Cecilla goes through horrible torment and Arn goes through battle after battle. I'm not really going to go into detail though. After that He returns to his wife and son. Knut is soon on his deathbed and the only way to make peace is to hand over the throne to the son of the former king that Knut decapitated all those years earlier. The only condition that this king has is that Knut's son Erik is to take the throne after him. Arn asks for a person who he trains to observe The King and his actions towards Erik. The King asks this person to go out to a river and drown all three of Knut's children. He seems to comply until the last minute and kills the 2 guards observing him, in collateral damage Knut's youngest son dies. Arn then leads one final battle against the king.The character development of this is really well done. The pacing of this movie is just right (which is why I will never watch the 2 hour version). The Acting (as I suspected) is great. I would recommend this version to people who have seen the 2 hour version or those who want to see a good movie about the Crusades.

gmaint While this type of film will always be compared to big budget films such as Troy etc, Arn had character and a realism that is not often present in blockbusters these days. Troy may have cost more but Arns fight scenes were believable and the costumes were excellent. The scenery and sets were also of a high quality. The acting was very good throughout and I had sympathy for the characters. This film is a great example of what can be produced by European film makers using traditional and authentic material and actors/extras. Arn left me with the thought that I had been well entertained and that I would like to have seen more.

Catharina_Sweden I think it is such a pity that the producers put so much work and money into this - news from the production and all its troubles was a serial story in the Swedish newspapers for several years. And then they chose so bad actors! Especially the main actor - Joakim Nätterqvist - is a disaster! A movie like this is totally dependent on its main actor being handsome, shining, interesting, admirable, lovable... and Nätterqvist is none of it. I cannot understand why he was chosen in the first place! Sofia Helin, as his love interest, is beautiful enough - but that is _all_ she is...The dialog is stultified, and the attempts to make the language more medieval are simply ridiculous. Almost all the actors are stiff and take themselves very seriously, and nothing feels natural. It is not possible to forget that it is actors one is watching, and to lose oneself in the story...Or maybe there simply were no better actors to chose from, either..? Although I am Swedish myself, I must admit that our actors at present are _very_ bad. The really great ones - those who had great beauty and that mystical star quality - for example Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Gösta Ekman senior, Georg Rydeberg, and Lars Hanson - are all dead long ago. And those who were fairly good - such as Anita Ekberg, Emy Storm, Jan Malmsjö, and Thommy Berggren - are old people now.The only movies that today's Swedish actors can act in, are comedies in which they simply play themselves. Such as the movies by Måns Herngren and Hannes Holm, that make fun of contemporary Swedish society, and also a few TV movies for children.With all this said, I must admit I was never over-impressed by the original Arn novels by Guillou, either. They are good enough as light entertainment, but they do not even come close to many other novels that take place in medieval times, for example "Kristin Lavransdottir". So even with the best of actors, it would have been impossible to make a great movie or TV series out of the books.Still, I think the Arn movies are good enough for watching on TV or on your computer, as simple entertainment, if you can get them for free. There is some epic scenery, elaborate clothes and armor, etc., that are beautiful to look at. A cinema ticket would be money wasted, though.