Los señores del acero

This is one of the most raw, refreshing and UN-Hollywood movies you will ever see. It's truly a classic, and it stands alone, because nothing like it has been done before. The movie is invariably entertaining throughout, and it contains so many fresh ideas from Verhoeven that it really has you saying 'wow' an awful lot. The rape scenes that everybody freaks out about in their reviews aren't so horrible....they get they're point across but aren't TOO sexually explicit. Whats nice to see if you can call it that, is that the rape is real, and horrible, its not meant to be provocative like it would be in a Hollywood movie, not that i'm a fan of any rape scene, not at all...but at least this is genuine. The performances aren't spectacular or anything, but they are far far from weak. After one viewing this is one of my favorite films, and I recommend it very highly to you.

This film should also be of interest to the highly religious because of all the imagery in it. Verhoeven is known for religious imagery and this film is full of it. It's very Christian in its themes, not that the characters are big in practice, but the movie has a lot of religious points to make.

This film is definitely off the beaten track. I enjoyed it a lot, and thought that there were some truly stand-out performances here, notably Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Some other actors and actresses that I didn't recognize were excellent. The tone is relentlessly bleak as befits the times. A couple of scenes put the times in perspective. One is where Agnes and Stephen talk and flirt beneath the hanging corpses without giving much thought to what we would consider today the horrid nature of such a sight. Another is towards the end, when one of the women has been captured (Polly, I think) and is being raped, and the lord (Stephen's father) simply walks past, barely noticing. I don't know if they are simply there for shock value, or if Verhoeven is making the point that one cannot judge mores, morals, and customs of past ages by the standards of today. (Something done quite a bit these days, most notably about slavery.)

Some of the criticisms in other comments are valid. True, none of the characters are very likeable. I was sort of hoping that they would all be dead by the end of the movie. But, again, I'm judging them by 21st century standards. Also, about the plague. I'm sure Verhoeven knows that plague is spread by rat fleas, so all of the machinations about the plague has to be from people's points of view in 1501-2.

This film is worth viewing, but don't expect gallantry, chivalry, or even decency. And no, it's really not a "date movie" Grade: A

I decided to watch this film after a very heavy three day drinking session and to be honest was not expecting a great deal. However, at the end I deemed it to be the best two hours of my life. What a film!

The Cardinal (Ronald Lacey) was by far the most outrageous and stand out performance. I may be a bit biased from England but over the top acting from Lacey seems to be his forte and he certainly does not disappoint. Rutger puts in a typically strong performance as does Jason-Leigh and the supporting cast.

My favourite scene had to be Soldier Martin standing in front of the upturned carriage with the wheel representing the halo from the statue of Saint Martin. For me this was the icing on the cake.

The only question mark about this film is the contraption that Steven constructs to storm the castle. It definitely is a work of art and for those times would be considered quite an Engineering achievement. Not to mention the time in which it is built in such an effortless manner. However, PV seems to make this fit with the spirit of the film and after a few chuckles it is all forgiven.

Its certainly a film that will not stand up today with modern attitudes and morals but I fully recommend this film. Add it to your collection NOW!

When a fortified city is taken from its rightful ruler while he is away he hires mercenaries to help retake it. I promises that they can have twenty four hours to loot as the please but once they are victorious he betrays them; ordering them to disarm and leave any treasure they have found. Soon afterwards the departing mercenaries discover a statue of St Martin and take it as a sign that their leader, also called Martin will make them rich. Not long after this they meet the man who betrayed them and make off with wagons loaded with valuables... and Agnes, the young woman promised to his son Steven. The mercenaries rape her but soon it becomes clear that Martin wants her for himself; especially after she helps him seize a castle which the mercenaries use as their new home. Of course things are far from over and they will have to contend with attacks from opposing forces and an outbreak of the plague!

If you have seen other films from director Paul Verhoeven you will have an idea of what to expect; violence, sex and nudity. While this means it won't appeal to everybody it didn't feel overly gratuitous. The film captures the filth and unpleasantness of the era in a way that might feel familiar to people watching things like 'Game of Thrones' now but would have been unusual at a time when things were far more sanitised. Our protagonists are more morally ambiguous than one expect; Martin is far from heroic as he forces himself onto Agnes and later she shows a cunning side as she appears to fall in love with him but doesn't forget Steven... one feels she will do what it takes to survive in the least unpleasant way possible. Rutger Hauer impresses as Martin and Jennifer Jason Leigh does a solid job as Agnes. The supporting cast are pretty good too. The action scenes are suitably gritty with many characters getting killed in ways that aren't swift and painless. One or two of these deaths are also quite inventive thanks to Steven's scientific approach to warfare. Overall one for fans of the genre who don't like things overly sanitised.

In this tale told by Paul Verhoeven and written by Gerard Soeteman, we follow a group of medieval mercenaries who get double-crossed by their commanding officer, which leads them down a path of revenge, crime and bloodshed. Essentially it's a Robin Hood story, or an underdog tale, but with no punches pulled and with a taste for the gore and splatter. Verhoeven is most known for his dark scifi action films, like Total Recall and RoboCop, but this film is very much his creation when it comes to the style.

And I have to admit that I like it a lot. Verhoeven's signature style is all over the screen with this one and it just might be one of the most brutal medieval adventure films I've ever seen. No one comes out of this film unscathed and it's such a jaded film that it's even hard to pick sides. The mercenaries are justified in their lust for revenge, but they also end up kidnapping the bride of the son of their betrayer and abusing her in very dark ways. On the other hand the bride is not a saint either, and very much not a damsel in distress, being willing to do whatever it takes to survive. Whereas the son of the betrayer, the groom as it may be, is perhaps the most virtuous of the whole cast, but even he has his dark tendencies.

And it's just a great adventure film in its own right. The setting is great, the characters are all shades of awesome, the action scenes are just the right amount of over the top and the whole film has this unmistakable style of the 80s. Blood and gore, smoke and shadows.

Very much worth a watch for all fans of dark and one of my favourite Verhoeven movies.