Reviews

I saw this in the 2008 Fantasia Festival and have just found it on DVD (yah!) I wouldn't call this high art by any stretch of the imagination but I really enjoyed myself. There was a lot of effort put into the making of this movie, and it shows. Among other things, the world seems lived in, which is a nice touch, even if many of the establishing CG visuals were over-amped à la Peter Jackson.

Unfortunately, the editing seemed a bit slipshod as there seems to be a scene or two missing. Just before the scene near the swamp a warrior-maiden(?) is suddenly part of the caravan with no explanation. I suspect that the scene introducing her was cut for time or some such reason.

However, this movie is ultimately about the titular hero being a bad-ass warrior rather than clever plotting, or careful film work. High art, it ain't but if you want a hacking good time, kick your boots off and enjoy this.

Also, the landscape is fantastic. Part of me wants to go visit the area it was filmed in.

I saw it on DVD this weekend. Not an easy movie to watch. It could have been better written. Too many clichés and stereotypes. The Johns and pimps that the movie dwells on are too obvious monsters. It might have worked better if some time had been spent on some of the less reprehensible "bad" characters. Part of the problem of real slave sex trade is that the victimizers are too often average Joes and indeed Janes, such as Carlyle's female assistant. The mini-series also largely avoids the issue that some of the victims get trapped into the trade knowing they are going to become prostitutes. That is to say they know they are going to be prostitutes, they just don't realize just how horrific the conditions are going to be.

As far as why the series was shot in Montreal, not New York, well, the movie business is a business after: it is cheaper to film in Montreal than New York. A scene not included on the DVD was shot a few blocks from my apartment. The train station where Sorvino lets Girard go is very likely the Montreal West AMT station. Montreal is used as location for New York City, Washington, D.C. (the brothel), Newark, and Manila (the port scenes at the end at least).

I saw it at a preview showing last night. I enjoyed myself a lot. However, Alexander Corvinus's ship was for a me a symbol of what is wrong with the movie. Large, cool-ish looking windows in the bow? A modern ship capable of landing a helicopter apparently made out of wood for no apparent reason except that it allows the vampires to break through it? Nope, looks good, but makes very little sense. Also it features one of my pet peeves, the intricate, ancient mechanism which still works perfectly after centuries of neglect including immersion in water. Also, the helmets worn in the opening scene look like they were elf army surplus from Weta Workshops rather than say something that looks like it was worn in the Balkans in the 13th century.

However, the action is cool and if amusingly over the top at times. Derek Jacobi puts in an interesting performance as the viewer is unsure for quite a long time which side, if any, he is on. You get a sense of him having lived too long as an observer and being unable to decide how to act. You get a sense of great weariness from having lived for centuries.

All in all, good fun, but it ain't going to win an Oscar.

I saw the movie on its North American premiere (July 14, 2004) at the Fantasia Festival. I was slightly disappointed as I had been expecting a more epic, ensemble cast movie along the lines of Musa the Warrior. Instead, the movie concentrated only a much smaller number of characters. Still, the movie was solid, thoughtful and visually intriguing. There were slightly jarring tone shifts from the dominant thoughtful and realistic tone of confused loyalties, intrigue and blood, versus the lighter, more flamboyant, martial arts sequences. It almost seemed as though the filmmakers couldn't make up their minds about whether the movie was supposed to be a martial arts "flick" or a historical epic. The story touches nicely on the issue about the need for loyalty versus the need to adapt to new situations. Is it really worth your life and those of your friends to be loyal to one's master or does there come a time when one must submit to the winds of change? Is there perhaps greater courage in leaving the old ways for new ones? How does one decide? These questions are raised in this movie, and ironically, there is the suggestion that the answer given, may in fact be the wrong one!