blrnani
... out of frustration at the missed opportunity.
The biggest complaint has to be laid at the feet of Jeff Bridges, with his ridiculous pseudo English twit accent. I don't know where that came from, but perhaps he thought anybody called Master Geoffrey must have been an English twit, but even then he only manages a caricature. And this has become an annoying habit of a once good actor with a reputable legacy, as shown in RIPD and True Grit - you can't play The Big Labowski in every role!
He isn't helped by his character's bipolar disorder either. The film opens weirdly, with apprentice Kit Harrison calling him to answer the ringing bell summons. But instead of saying "I'll just finish my drink and then we'll be off", he pointblank refuses, prompting a local bully to demand he do his duty. That leads to a fight, the sole purpose of which is to demonstrate our hero's ability to defend himself with no more than a tankard. The bully vanquished, he then pours his unspilled drink over him, then leaves the tavern, chastizing his apprentice for not warning him the bells were calling out.
It could have been senility, or his repeatedly confirmed alcohol dependence, or depression at being the only survivor of a noble order of 1,000 knights, but we learn, as Bridges takes us on the rollercoaster ride of his character's emotions, that he was once in love with the evil villain, but married someone else and then betrayed her again after she murdered his wife in a fit of jealousy.
This is clearly a couple to keep one's distance from, were it not for the fact that she plans to conquer the world and rid it of humans. He has an equally fanatical devotion to ridding it of witches, so something's gotta give!
Therein lies the interesting promise of the film (beyond the talented cast). At heart it should be an Arthurian quest to rid the world of evil, but that noble quest has been subverted into a 'racial' battle. But then a love story arises to rebalance everything, since Barnes and Vikander both have witch mothers who married humans out of love (tho' he doesn't know that at the beginning, despite the clues).
Julianne Moore plays a convincing villain (which may well have won her the Kingsman 2 role she played so well). We're not quite sure whether her turning to the dark side was prompted by her betrayal by Bridges or he turned against her after she showed she was turning, but by the time we meet her she's fully committed and relishing it, to a degree that even her sister (Vikander's mother) finds disturbing.
She brings lots of allies to her cause, which provides some very effective SFX, as they can all change between human and animal. Indeed one wonders how the humans can possible survive and mystified at the end as to how they actually won. It comes as a shock to see Moore, having murdered her beloved sister - because she stopped her murdering Vikander (who opted for her new love's cause) - meekly turn away and hide in a corner, despite the blood moon being at its height and supposed to make her supreme. It surely can't be the loss of the amulet, since she was pretty awesome even before she got it back.
Maybe it was sadness that Bridges preferred to die than rule the dark side next to her. He confesses "I love you once", she appeals to his mercy, but none is forthcoming and so she threatens to haunt him - so the feud can go on and we can get sequels.
The lovers also decide to go their separate ways but will surely meet again, another hint at a sequel. Indeed the abundance of sequel hints also becomes annoying. Arny only needed to say "I'll be back", but this one has no right to feel that confident - especially if Bridges insists on hanging onto that stupid accent!
weebitkrazy
Know first, I do not care for this genre of movies. I record lots of films via my DVR to watch and at times find hidden gems. This movie is one of them. Set in mid evil times with two outstanding known actors,pretty much a good verses evil tale. A spook needs a seventh son to be his apprentice to fight against evil witches and monsters mainly the queen of witches, played by Julianne Moore who plays this part deliciously. She proves she can play any character . Also Jeff Bridges plays the spook and I realized they were both in the movie " The Big Lebowski" together . ha ha ha this film moves pleasantly fast, has great special effects without being gory. The story line may not be a complex or have a wow factor but a good story non the less. It kept my attention until the very end. If you enjoy a pleasant two hour joy ride with good acting and special effects I recommend this sleeper gem.
skGoliat
I liked this movie, but not enough to write a review. But the bad criticism did not let me any chance, I had to step in. Most of the critics sound a bit salty, because their beloved book has not been portrayed correctly. Well, I did not read the books, so I can judge a bit more objectively I think. While I expected nothing, I was pleasantly surprised. Here are the reasons why this movie is different: The antagonists actually have reasons to be bad - There is not only black and white, good and evil in this story, there are a lot of grey areas as well - Actors are really good, Juliane Moore is amazing - production values are good, not top notch, but good - in most movies you know after minute 5 how the movie is going to end, not so much in this movieDon't take me wrong, this is nowhere near amazing, but it is entertaining, has some interesting aspects and good production values. The only thing that seems to make this movie bad is when you have read the books before. If you have not, try it.
