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Brilliant and touching

best movie i've ever seen.

Absolutely the worst movie.

The first must-see film of the year.

"The Reckoning is a 14th century tale of woe. It is a film from 2002 and it is currently available on NetFlix Instant Download Streaming. The director i is Paul McGuigan. And the writers include Barry Unsworth (novel) and Mark Mills (Screenplay). The cast includes Paul Bettany, Marian Aguilera, Trevor Steechman, Simon McBurney, Tom Handy, Brian Cox, Willem Dafoe, Gina McKee, Stuart Wells, Vincent Cassel, Elvira Minguez, Richard Durden, Ewen Bremner, Mark Benton, Hamish McColl, Mathew Macfadyen, Luke de Woolfson, Nall Buggy, Julian Barnatt, Luisa Requena Baron, Pedro Martinez De Dioni, Tom Georgeson, Simon Pegg, Teresa Berganza Rafa Izuzkiza and Jose Luis Martinez Gutierez. The story revolves around a group of strolling actors who stumble upon a village in Midevil England. There is a play within a play and a murder plot, however, the cinematography is lacking as is the story. I gave it only 3 stars. Dale Haufrect

Murder mysteries have always captivated the human mind for one reason or another. One only has to turn on the TV to TNT or USA and chances are that a "Law & Order" episode will be on. Setting one in the Middle Ages has plenty of possibilities, since what people knew and how they acted at the time are vastly different from what people know and do in the present day. Sadly, the result is a mess for 90% of the movie.Nicholas (Paul Bettany) is a priest who fled his town after committing an unspeakable act. He joins up with a troupe of traveling actors (led by Willem Dafoe), and they come across a town where they perform a play. When they arrive, a deaf-mute girl has been convicted of a murder. The group of actors decide to put on a play about the crime, and while creating it, they realize that nothing is what it seems.Few will disagree that the main purpose of a murder mystery is to not only find out who did it, but why. "The Reckoning" accomplishes this, to be sure, but it's nearly impossible to figure out what is going on. Granted, a good mystery keeps the audience hanging until the end, but the protagonist is not supposed to get ahead of the viewer. That's what happens here. While everything is explained in the final 20 minutes, that means that for for over an hour and a half the film is an irritating mess.Additionally, this film relies on the viewer to not ask some questions about the common knowledge at the time. I have read posts on IMDb questioning this, and I have my doubts as well. I won't say what it is, but if you watch the movie, you'll wonder the same thing.The acting isn't standout at all. The actors simply do what is required of them, but they could have been played by anyone. Willem Dafoe tries to add a little spice with his subtly curious accent, but there's really not enough material to do anything really original with. The exception is Elvira Minguez, who despite not being able to speak or hear, manages to gain our sympathy.Paul McGuigan knows how to make a film look nice, but he doesn't know how to make it make sense. The setting is very authentic, and everything LOOKS great, but the story construction brings everything down. His later feature, "Lucky Number Slevin," suffered from a similar problem, but not as bad. McGuigan keeps the pace up, but the the plot twists are barely emphasized at all, many are almost "blink and miss." Worse, he leaves some of the key elements to the imagination when they shouldn't be. Finally, he doesn't have much control over his actors' accents, some of which are so thick that it's impossible to understand what they are saying.Overall, it's another film that looks better than it really is.

Everything in the setting and art direction of this nicely done dramatic mystery is of Academy Award caliber, so why was it not nominated? It should have been.The plot is simple but handled in a most perceptive and well-conceived manner, and makes for a riveting tale, with superb performances by nearly everyone involved. A murder mystery set in the 13th century in England, of course with the dangerous politics of aristocracy as fodder.The fault of this film is in the portrayal of the villain, who is lacking in development and nothing more than a one-dimensional Simon Legree. One fully expects him to pull his mustache and cackle. His eventual downfall is welcome, but handled in way that just seems unrealistic for the times.Here is a fellow who is suspected of planning a revolt against the King of England, yet he only has about 6 knights in his stable when push comes to shove? What? Then the angry villagers burn down the gigantic castle, which was the size of about the rest of the town. Right, they'd prefer to just burn it down rather than use it.Other than that, a great film.

Both Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe consistently make quality, often surprising choices, whether they pick "art films" or big, commercial Hollywood films like Firewall and Spider-Man as projects. The Reckoning is no exception. This "medieval thriller" is unusual in many respects, all of them good, and although "thriller" is apt in a way, the focus here is as much on cultural changes in the immediate pre-Renaissance era.Bettany plays Nicholas, a priest who has committed questionable crimes and who has subsequently fled his home and at least outwardly abandoned his calling as he quests for repentance. He meets up with a traveling band of actors whose master player has just died. Martin (Dafoe), the previous master player's son, has inherited the title. Because a bridge is out, they have to take a different path than they intended, and they happen upon a feudal village where a woman has just been convicted of murdering a young boy.Various complications arise, and The Reckoning becomes a quest to solve a series of crimes. At the same time, Nicholas continues on his goal of repentance and we see the beginnings of a cultural clash between progressive, Renaissance-like ideas and the more traditional religious and feudal society. These clashes are even represented within the acting troupe, among different members, and as a struggle within Nicholas.The period/costume drama production design is handled beautifully. Novelist Barry Unsworth and the filmmakers seem to have done a lot of research towards getting various facets of daily life correct for the era. The story is handled very smoothly, and it is complex enough that it could have easily turned into a mess. The settings are gorgeous to look at--much of the film was shot on location in Spain and the UK. And Paul McGuigan's direction and the cast's performances are excellent. Period/costume drama is still a genre that I sometimes have difficulty "sinking into" as a viewer--too often there's kind of a pretentious "this is fine/high drama" vibe given off by those films--but that's not at all a problem here.The Reckoning provides a very nice mixture of themes and moods in a very well made, engaging film.