'Frustrating' is probably the first word that comes to mind when thinking of 'Medieval.' It's an ambitious attempt to tell a (largely fictional) origin story for Czech national hero Jan Zizka, one of history's most renowned military commanders and you can see flashes of greatness in it, but it's also deeply flawed. On the one hand, there's an excellent cast, some grimy battle scenes and it convincingly recreates the brutality of medieval life. On the other, it's poorly edited and the storyline is needlessly confusing. There's enough duplicitous scheming to fill an entire season of 'Game Of Thrones,' but it's squeezed into a two-hour movie that also features near-constant violence. Keeping track of who's betrayed who and who's allied with who gets increasingly difficult as the film progresses. Especially as one of the most important characters - King Wenceslas - barely gets any screen time.
The meandering plot keeps it from being a potential 'Gladiator' for the streaming generation, but there is still a lot to commend. For starters, the acting is very good. The ever-reliable Ben Foster does a grand job in the lead role; his Zizka is a no great general, he's the leader of a small mercenary band who just wants to get paid, only to get swept up in events beyond his control. He's a violent man who speaks few words, but can convey a wealth of emotion just by tilting his head in the right way. He doesn't grandstand like Russell Crowe's Maximus, but you can still see why peasants flock to support him as the carnage unfolds. Elsewhere, Matthew Goode is excellent as the Machiavellian King of Hungary, while Sophie Lowe puts in a convincingly layered performance as the kidnapped wife of a Bohemian noble.
The battle scenes aren't perfect and can get confusing, but they're also satisfyingly bone-breaking. They're mostly small-scale affairs taking place in regions that helpfully disguise how few people are actually involved - inside a cave, on a narrow road, or on a smoke-shrouded pass - but when maces hit faces, it looks like it really, really hurts. Limbs are severed, arrows are shot into open mouths and people die horribly, all. The. Time. 'Medieval' presents itself as a heavyweight drama, but it also comes with a ridiculously high body count and it's positively drenched in gore. And that's before the Lion turns up and clamps its jaws around a man's head.
Lastly, the depiction of everyday life in medieval Europe is strikingly bleak. Lives are cheap and people have hard, back-breaking existences clawing out their survival in a harsh world. Peasants are oppressed by nobility and sadistic mercenaries. There's murder, hangings, raids, rape, torture and just about all manner of unpleasantness. Granted, some of it does come dangerously close to resembling 'Monty Python And The Holy Grail' without the jokes, but for the most part, it's a convincingly grim world. There's no heroic chevaliers and gallant men of honour, just blood, slaughter and death.
Which inevitably means it's almost a relief when the credits finally roll. 'Medieval' isn't a pleasant film and its more lofty ambitions are held back by a need to deliver crowd-pleasing fountains of crimson alongside heavyweight, Shakespearean tragedy. However, the cast are terrific, the battles will make you wince and it's so tactile you can almost feel the mud drying beneath your fingernails. 'Medieval' isn't amazing but it also isn't terrible. If you're interested in this period of history or just want to see Ben Foster kill half of Europe with a sword, it's worth checking out.
The meandering plot keeps it from being a potential 'Gladiator' for the streaming generation, but there is still a lot to commend. For starters, the acting is very good. The ever-reliable Ben Foster does a grand job in the lead role; his Zizka is a no great general, he's the leader of a small mercenary band who just wants to get paid, only to get swept up in events beyond his control. He's a violent man who speaks few words, but can convey a wealth of emotion just by tilting his head in the right way. He doesn't grandstand like Russell Crowe's Maximus, but you can still see why peasants flock to support him as the carnage unfolds. Elsewhere, Matthew Goode is excellent as the Machiavellian King of Hungary, while Sophie Lowe puts in a convincingly layered performance as the kidnapped wife of a Bohemian noble.
The battle scenes aren't perfect and can get confusing, but they're also satisfyingly bone-breaking. They're mostly small-scale affairs taking place in regions that helpfully disguise how few people are actually involved - inside a cave, on a narrow road, or on a smoke-shrouded pass - but when maces hit faces, it looks like it really, really hurts. Limbs are severed, arrows are shot into open mouths and people die horribly, all. The. Time. 'Medieval' presents itself as a heavyweight drama, but it also comes with a ridiculously high body count and it's positively drenched in gore. And that's before the Lion turns up and clamps its jaws around a man's head.
Lastly, the depiction of everyday life in medieval Europe is strikingly bleak. Lives are cheap and people have hard, back-breaking existences clawing out their survival in a harsh world. Peasants are oppressed by nobility and sadistic mercenaries. There's murder, hangings, raids, rape, torture and just about all manner of unpleasantness. Granted, some of it does come dangerously close to resembling 'Monty Python And The Holy Grail' without the jokes, but for the most part, it's a convincingly grim world. There's no heroic chevaliers and gallant men of honour, just blood, slaughter and death.
Which inevitably means it's almost a relief when the credits finally roll. 'Medieval' isn't a pleasant film and its more lofty ambitions are held back by a need to deliver crowd-pleasing fountains of crimson alongside heavyweight, Shakespearean tragedy. However, the cast are terrific, the battles will make you wince and it's so tactile you can almost feel the mud drying beneath your fingernails. 'Medieval' isn't amazing but it also isn't terrible. If you're interested in this period of history or just want to see Ben Foster kill half of Europe with a sword, it's worth checking out.