milostyl
As far as period pieces set in the middle ages go, this one isn't very glamorous. It's a decently well made film with some strong individual performances that basically carry a mostly disjointed and only slightly nuanced story. My rating for this movie is a fairly weak 7/10. That rating is floated higher than I would have normally given it for three specific reasons. First, the performances: Holland as the young, pious monk who has never known anything but life in the monastery yet quickly matures when faced with adversity. Bernthal as the obedient and entirely subservient mute with an obviously profound yet mysterious history who becomes the star of the show on more than one occasion without saying a word. Stanley Weber as the Cistercian, the guy the Church sends out to do their dirty work basically and effectively starts the "Pilgrimage" in the first place. Of course, there's also Richard Armitage as the surly French knight commanding his Baron father's equally surly men while throwing surly looks around all the time. This would have been a horribly dull and hard to watch movie if these guys didn't pull off these fairly typical medieval character archetypes well and it feels to me like they did.Second, the action and set sequences were well done. I tend to be the kind of person who is immediately thrown off by a bad transition or a sequence of shots that just don't really work well together. I didn't see very much of that in this film. Granted, it's not difficult managing scene transition when most every scene is shot outdoors in Ireland but when the action happens, it's brutal and effective.Third, symbolism. If you are someone who does not like it when a movie expects you to draw your own significance from the story it's trying to tell, this is not a movie you might like. Religion is a central theme in this movie and it is built on a foundation of symbolism that can be taken any number of different ways. If you like diving into the deeper meaning of things, you will actually love this movie. Especially how it ends.
eyefordetail
Let's start by saying it is a good movie. The character development and the acting is solid and the look and feel of the movie is consistent and believable. The choreography and continuity is very professional, as are the other technical elements, such as soundtrack and cinematography. One actually feels sorry for the actors having to go through the obvious rigours of cold water and cold climate scenes. But this is why it is like watching synchronized swimming: You get the feeling at the end of the movie that it was rather pointless. Very well done but without a real purpose. It feels like a long pilot episode of a series where the writers first wants to get a response before writing the next script. The movie aptly ends with the dialogue: "So where to now"? And this is the summation - where to now? Perhaps the comment that the script writer wrote in the margin accidentally became part of the script. I loved Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal. Richard Armitage positioned himself as someone to really keep an eye on.
monkinklee
Very good movie with a stellar cast. There is Spiderman, the Punisher, a cool spy dude from spooks for a stark. Lots of Irish faces and Hollands Irish is not too bad. Great work throughout and good writing. Please watch this one. You won't be disappointed. Good multilingual Fare. I am not surprised I like it.
steveleebee1973
This is very good. far more realistic than Hollywood might produce. it's interesting, much dogma was born of superstition, identifications that without science, were attributed to whatever godly (natural) forces our people believed in at the time. However, belief is a force unto itself and it does serve to manipulate circumstance. that is in here too. well told
AD
