It begins with some nice campy battle-action: two armies fight each other on a bridge. It's interesting that the 'good' are made up as Christian paladins, whereas the 'evil' are more in the vein of pagan savages. Then it moves up in time, to a dude ordering a hit on his spouse's unborn child, and again forward in time as this man has joined an odd group of fighters who keep evil presences in line. The cinematography is obviously inspired by Delicatessen, although not nearly as good as that film - overuse of CGI really distracts from photographic integrity. The set-up reminded me of Witch Hunter Robin - the narrative certainly seems to draw greatly from Eastern influences. So - we have easily identifiable influences. However, I could not identify where the movie's heart was - it seemed sadly absent. There are a few moments of emotional tenderness and importance, and there are scenes of tension, but without a firm hand directing the film toward its logical conclusion nothing gells together quite properly.
Perhaps I would have understood more clearly had I read the novel. Also, the child's decision at the end to go over to evil felt a bit odd and underdeveloped. Many of the elements were underdeveloped actually. I would've liked to have seen more of the other watch, and understood more what exactly this world is that we're looking at. It was all quite muddy and rather incoherent. Olga was cool, though.
One section of this film works marvelously however - the short 3-5 minute black and white animated sequence that tells us the story of "the virgin" who brings death to everything she touches. This film is worth seeing for that moment alone. I'd like to take it out of the film and watch it by itself, over and over again.
Perhaps I would have understood more clearly had I read the novel. Also, the child's decision at the end to go over to evil felt a bit odd and underdeveloped. Many of the elements were underdeveloped actually. I would've liked to have seen more of the other watch, and understood more what exactly this world is that we're looking at. It was all quite muddy and rather incoherent. Olga was cool, though.
One section of this film works marvelously however - the short 3-5 minute black and white animated sequence that tells us the story of "the virgin" who brings death to everything she touches. This film is worth seeing for that moment alone. I'd like to take it out of the film and watch it by itself, over and over again.