The Veil

Netflix "recommended" this movie to me. Normally it would be something I would have enjoyed but the plot, such as it was, was nebulous. Things didn't hook up and the whole mess was difficult to follow. After what was probably the most unsatisfactory ending I have ever watched I was grateful the movie was over.

Positives for the film are good fighting, sparring, and training scenes, nice location scenery, and the hot bod on the main character. While not usually an aspect I would comment on at least it made the film bearable. (I'm probably not allowed to say that these days but there it is. If he objects he can contact me and I'll change the verbiage.)

This film, subsidized by the Oklahoma Film Rebate Commission or something similar, was a lame attempt. Neither the plot nor the characters were developed, the acting quality was sad, and the fight scenes were high school. The Kingdom appeared to comprise a village of 9 or 10 funky black tents and had a similar number of warriors, while the Dominion (opposing dark side) had a few buildings made out of stone and perhaps 20 or 30 warriors. One reviewer said it was better than expected. I would hate to think what it was that he was expecting. The Film Rebate Commission should get their rebate back.

I have no idea what the plot of this movie is... there are dream sequences and flashbacks and flash forwards and nothing is explained. The lack of a decent plot is actually quite astounding; really no point in trying to follow along. The dialogue is completely incoherent and confuses you just as much as the swerving plot does.

The only reason this doesn't get a 1, is because the wardrobe department hit this out of the park. The actors had great costumes and looked quite beautiful, they just had nothing else to work off of.

Alternate logline: Once upon a time, two films got together to have a child. Melancholia the mother; Conan the Barbarian the father. Unfortunately, the film they birthed was dropped on it's head during delivery and is now known as The Veil.

Many of the other reviews handled some of the finer details of the film's shortcomings with more precision, but the story is a mess, it's overreaching and underachieving, the stakes seem lacking. One small example that's not a spoiler because it's so early in the film: We're expected to believe this is an alien planet, (or possibly an alternate Earth) but there are no aliens, only a shot in the sky for VFX to support such a thing. There are no likable characters or performances (aside from the old man at the end) and not any humor to speak of other than some painfully long pauses in the middle of fight choreography here and there.

As a couple of pros for the movie: The film's makeup and wardrobes were great. The scenery is fine. It's shot decently.

TLDR; The writing was horrible. It doesn't go anywhere. Watch Conan or Melancholia instead.

The only reason to watch this movie is because it is so unwatchable. The Veil is a movie where the soul of Ed Wood is resurrected into the body of whoever directed this and then goes to an artsy film school, then takes way too many mushrooms and cannabis gummy bears, then somehow gets $300,000.00 and makes a movie.