It's quite sad really. This piece has some excellent actors and a promising premise (if, like me, you like movies based on this period and of a military persuasion), but unfortunately it is so wildly unrealistic that it becomes a pain to watch.
It starts off right at the beginning, with 3 Templars holding off a large war band of Danish mercenaries all by themselves while rescuing a priest. The priest, who've had the tip of his tongue cut off, then proceeds to rapidly die from that rather less than mortal injury.
While that's bad enough already, it goes on to a collection of 18-19 men-at-arms holding a castle against an army of a thousand men, when in reality such a scenario would have seen them overwhelmed and slaughtered within an hour.
Like I said, it's really quite sad. This period of English history was supremely turbulent and well suited as the setting of a movie such as this one. Unfortunately Hollywood's penchance for totally ignoring history and reality both means it instead ends up an exercise in superfluous stupidity. Something that also isn't helped at all by interjecting a totally pointless love story into the mix.
All in all a pretty hopeless piece of movie making, which you should only see if it comes your way for free.
It starts off right at the beginning, with 3 Templars holding off a large war band of Danish mercenaries all by themselves while rescuing a priest. The priest, who've had the tip of his tongue cut off, then proceeds to rapidly die from that rather less than mortal injury.
While that's bad enough already, it goes on to a collection of 18-19 men-at-arms holding a castle against an army of a thousand men, when in reality such a scenario would have seen them overwhelmed and slaughtered within an hour.
Like I said, it's really quite sad. This period of English history was supremely turbulent and well suited as the setting of a movie such as this one. Unfortunately Hollywood's penchance for totally ignoring history and reality both means it instead ends up an exercise in superfluous stupidity. Something that also isn't helped at all by interjecting a totally pointless love story into the mix.
All in all a pretty hopeless piece of movie making, which you should only see if it comes your way for free.