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the audience applauded

Just what I expected

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

For some reason, I've long had an admittedly morbid fascination with the black death. So naturally I was thrilled that there would be a movie that took the subject head-on. When it finally came out and I saw it, I was actually angry. This is not a movie about the Black Death. This is an ax-grinding about religion that happens to take place during the black death. The sad fact is, there is so much material to be mined from that devastating tragedy, but instead they decided not to make a movie about the subject of its title. Don't waste your time. Instead, read John Hatcher's "The Black Death" or William Defoe's "Journal of The Plague Year".

This movie is first and foremost, as others stated, gritty. There is so much grit, that it goes beyond historical realism and into the realm of horror right from the start. One thing to think about was that while the plague was horrible, it most certainly wasn't all death all the time everywhere interspersed with the occasional witch-hunt, because then with a lot of people dead, the survivors would have all died because there would have been no one to grow, sell, transport and store food. Yet this movie focuses exclusively on the worst things possible. It could aptly be summarized as "14th century: Worst-of".This includes the characters. While the characters are certainly all possible, believable, multi faceted, and well acted, they are all awful people and do not represent anyone apart from themselves (which many reviewers seem to have missed). This is not an exploration of the nature of religion, this is a character piece about a few of the worst people in an already awful time. As such, the events were treated objectively. There was visible effort not to depict the christians as one dimensional power hungry zealots, and the pagans not as simply evil people who do nothing but awful things simply because they hate religion. Nonetheless they all ended up doing awful things.And this is where the movie starts earning negative points, because doing so (while plausible) is simply moronic. The people of the village have no reason for cruelty, and the sole moment of legitimate interest with the revelation about the supposed necromancy is strongly overshadowed by the massive amounts of gratuitous violence directly before and after. This is stupidity way beyond what can be explained by cliché medieval ignorance. It makes no sense for the pagans to immediately turn to what is essentially satanism, and it makes no sense for the squad to want to make them suffer just because they are without god before they realize this. That was not their mission. Hanging the new convert also makes no sense. Least of all sense can be seen in the killing of the girl, when a few questions would definitely not have hurt and could have cleared up the situation.Finally the character development that occurs beyond this is strictly nonsensical. Having killed someone in error resulting in murdering innocent people and becoming the antithesis of your former self is not a very likely thing to happen. This ending also just felt unnecessary and jarring, just to depress the audience more for no reason. I do not appreciate that.Altogether a movie which is a statistically unlikely collection of quite possibly the worst people in the worst time of history, without a real point, except that being evil is bad.

Really really wanted to like this movie, and assumed I would. It has all the elements to make it an awesome movie to my taste - Sean Bean in medieval garb, looking and being a bad-ass (though he at no point says the word 'Bastard - a real let-down!); a little bit of the mysteries and God vs. Pagan religion argument as seen from the Middle Ages' experience; and a nice healthy dollop of blood, gore and excruciatingly painful death.However, the story itself plunged so quickly in at the deep end, and the characters we were swiftly introduced to were given so little time for real depth, that I found it very hard to find my empathy for them. Eddie Redmayne's character came across as whiny, where I'm sure I should be feeling greatly sorry for him. Sean Bean's Ulric was a little too ruthless, and the other soldiers in their troupe weren't that knowable, so by the time we get to the village, I really don't feel I have a side. In fact, to see Lord Percy - sorry - Tim McInnerny turn up, I almost felt like I should be on his.Overall, it was a nice watch. I liked the story, but it all took place so fast, I wanted more time to get to know the knights under Ulric, and the person I felt most sorry for was Averill.I wasn't sure I quite liked the ruthlessness of the pagans either - sure, it's a Kill or Be Killed situation overall, but still, the amount of times I've seen bloodthirsty, bedevilled, brainwashed pagans (speaking as a modern pagan myself) is beginning to wear more than a little thin.I'm also pretty sure that Carice Van Houten got cast as Melisandre on these merits.The story arc is good, just too short. The script has a nice, authentic flavour to it, with some nice little twists, and the acting is consistent and engaging throughout - but without a real feeling for who to root for and exactly why, I'm not this film's biggest fan, I regret to say.

After having greatly enjoyed watching the HBO series Game of Thrones,I decided to search online to see if lead actor Sean Bean had done anything similar.Taking a look at Bean's IMDb credits,I was pleased to discover that he had starred in a historical Horror film,which led to me getting ready to unleash the black death.The plot:England: 1348Arriving at a monastery,a knight called Ulric announces that he needs a monk to help him and his men to locate a remote village,which has strangely been untouched by the black death plague sweeping the country. With having made a deal with his secret girlfriend that he would meet her near the village,a young monk called Osmund tells Ulric that he will take him and his men safely to the village.Heading to the village,Ulric and Osmund find themselves surrounded by death,which leads to Ulric having to kill one of his most loyal men,thanks to him getting infected with the black death.Arriving at the village,Ulric and Osmund are taken aback,when they receive a warm welcome from the towns residence.As everyone starts to relax for the night,Osmund and Ulric soon discover the secret behind the villages plague vaccine.View on the film:Slowly releasing the Gothic Horror atmosphere,the screenplay by Dario Poloni carefully draws a thumbnail sketch for each of the character's,as Poloni shows the effects that Ulric's rigorous mission has on the rest of the gang.Delaying the supernatural Horror aspect from entering the first half,Poloni shows everyone to be gripped with a deep fear of their nearest & dearest being infected by the plague,which leads to Poloni striking the title with a wonderfully bleak,haunted ending.Filmed on location over 5 weeks,director Christopher Smith wraps the movie in a harsh decaying mist,as Smith keeps away from using primary colours, (with the exception of blood red)by choking any sense of light from the film with dried-up and rotting grays,blacks and muddy browns.Despite Smith building up a good sense of terror by using excellent wide-shots to show the films stunning woodland locations,the movies feeling of dangerous adventure is chopped to bits,thanks to Smith disapprovingly deciding to give the fight scenes a choppy appearance,which leads to ever strike made in the fights completely failing to connect.Teaming up with future-Game of Thrones co-star Carice van Houten, (who gives an elegant,uneasy performance as the village leader)Sean Bean (or as he is known "Oop North" of the UK as Sir Sean Bean!)gives a tremendous performance as Ulric,as Bean hits Ulric with real shots of gravitas on his quest to wipe out the black death,whilst gradually showing Ulric to develop a caring side,as Ulric attempts to stop Osmund (played by a very good Eddie Redmayne) from being drawn into the black death.