Reading all these good comments and praise about Tristan + Isolde I began to think that there must be something wrong with me, cause I did not like this film. But try as I might I can not bring myself to find anything that's good about it. So it seems most people don't agree with me, but for what its worth here's my opinion on this movie.
Granted, the production aspects of the film are OK and the acting is decent, sometimes even good. The real problem of Tristan + Isolde is its story and the way it is narrated. It goes for both action and love story and fails in both (although the love story part is better than the action part)to the point where I get the feeling it could have been two separate movies. At one point I got so bored I actually had to fast forward so as not to fall asleep.
I also have several problems with specific parts of the movie, either because the progress of the story did not require such huge sacrifices of realism or because of the fact that scenes that were supposed to be grand and maybe epic were reduced (probably due to budget constraints) to comically smaller scale.
****** SPOILERS******* For example, as far as realism is concerned, the two heroes are caught in the act when everyone in the wedding rides out to honor the full moon tradition. They only see the horsemen when they are right next to them, yet the riders would have been heard from a great distance. Not to mention the fact that riders knew where to find them, when nobody knew for all the time they were seeing each other. While this might not seem enough to spoil the movie, too many such little details can really spoil the mood.
Another good example of what I didn't like about this movie, is the tournament. To put it simply I've been in grander, larger and more impressive tournaments as a kid, playing with my friends. And this was a tournament were all the lords of England were competing for the daughter of the King of Ireland....
*******END OF SPOILERS******** To sum it up, there was a good story somewhere in the film but it was bogged down by bad narration, laziness and clichés. I give it 4 out of 10.
Granted, the production aspects of the film are OK and the acting is decent, sometimes even good. The real problem of Tristan + Isolde is its story and the way it is narrated. It goes for both action and love story and fails in both (although the love story part is better than the action part)to the point where I get the feeling it could have been two separate movies. At one point I got so bored I actually had to fast forward so as not to fall asleep.
I also have several problems with specific parts of the movie, either because the progress of the story did not require such huge sacrifices of realism or because of the fact that scenes that were supposed to be grand and maybe epic were reduced (probably due to budget constraints) to comically smaller scale.
****** SPOILERS******* For example, as far as realism is concerned, the two heroes are caught in the act when everyone in the wedding rides out to honor the full moon tradition. They only see the horsemen when they are right next to them, yet the riders would have been heard from a great distance. Not to mention the fact that riders knew where to find them, when nobody knew for all the time they were seeing each other. While this might not seem enough to spoil the movie, too many such little details can really spoil the mood.
Another good example of what I didn't like about this movie, is the tournament. To put it simply I've been in grander, larger and more impressive tournaments as a kid, playing with my friends. And this was a tournament were all the lords of England were competing for the daughter of the King of Ireland....
*******END OF SPOILERS******** To sum it up, there was a good story somewhere in the film but it was bogged down by bad narration, laziness and clichés. I give it 4 out of 10.