I was excited to see a major production based on early Central European history. There have been monumental wars and epic battles in the Western Slavic states, but they've been largely overlooked by Hollywood producers and most of the past local productions were budgetarily challenged.
Unfortunately, what should have been an engrossing slice of history was reduced to a series of thrilling battle scenes and a thin romantic drama between the hero and his captive princess. When Zizka pipes up with a rousing third act rallying speech it's clear this was meant to be a Czech Braveheart. With a little more focus it might have been.
The look of the film is fantastic. Gorgeous cinematography, great period locations and costumes, including plenty of authentic looking armor and convincing peasant garb. The only distracting visual was one character's modern buzzcut, obviously done with electric clippers.
The international cast is very good but the array of accents was hard to ignore. Everything from harsh American to lilting Scandinavian, Slavic, British and German. No big problem though.
What really brings the movie down is the soundtrack. The final mix is absolutely horrendous. Literally 90% of the time when a character opens their mouth to speak, the music swells dramatically as if deliberately trying to drown out the dialog. I quickly gave up trying to decipher whatever exposition or character intros were buried under the pseudo-angelic chorals. Even more frustrating, the production tracks were clearly well-recorded, they were just lost in the sloppy soaring mix.
If you like brutal knightly action you'll find plenty to enjoy in this romp. If it's history you crave, you'll find it a bit sketchy.
Unfortunately, what should have been an engrossing slice of history was reduced to a series of thrilling battle scenes and a thin romantic drama between the hero and his captive princess. When Zizka pipes up with a rousing third act rallying speech it's clear this was meant to be a Czech Braveheart. With a little more focus it might have been.
The look of the film is fantastic. Gorgeous cinematography, great period locations and costumes, including plenty of authentic looking armor and convincing peasant garb. The only distracting visual was one character's modern buzzcut, obviously done with electric clippers.
The international cast is very good but the array of accents was hard to ignore. Everything from harsh American to lilting Scandinavian, Slavic, British and German. No big problem though.
What really brings the movie down is the soundtrack. The final mix is absolutely horrendous. Literally 90% of the time when a character opens their mouth to speak, the music swells dramatically as if deliberately trying to drown out the dialog. I quickly gave up trying to decipher whatever exposition or character intros were buried under the pseudo-angelic chorals. Even more frustrating, the production tracks were clearly well-recorded, they were just lost in the sloppy soaring mix.
If you like brutal knightly action you'll find plenty to enjoy in this romp. If it's history you crave, you'll find it a bit sketchy.