Michiel de Ruyter

There is very little to fault in this movie, I love foreign subtitled movies and this is now in my top 5.

This is an abridged version of the Anglo/Dutch wars in the 1700s, a period I know little about. It shows the obvious bully tactics of the Royal Navy being superior, but it shows that means nothing with a good commander in charge. It also shows the political ramblings that went on behind the scenes, and although the movie tries its best to not go on an all gore quest, when it needs to the film is shocking. Specifically the assassinations of the Witt brothers, the scenes are extremely gruesome and it horrifies even more that this happened in real life.

A majority of the movie in in Dutch, but the few British scenes are in English, simply to set the tone of the movie.

The acting was flawless especially Frank Lammers who plays the title role. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone.

The only reason it looses one star is because at times the flow of the film seemed a little uneven, but for the most part extremely entertaining and insightful.

Firstly , let me start of by saying i am dutch and therefore my opinion mite be slightly biased.Secondly , although the story is of grand importance to our history and epic of scope, i was worried (mainly by the choice of director, who's previous track record includes a whole lot of terrible sequels to B movies), and the choice of dutch movie producers to almost always (like 95% of the time) go for the safe picture, that being a not too artsy or original film (mostly being comedies, romantic comedies or family films). This film looked like it was going to be another Nova Zembla, the first big scale dutch epic (not counting of course Paul verhoeven en black book, but thats different, cos its verhoeven who is more known as a Hollywood director than of dutch films) that resulted in a total yawn fest. What a terrible waste

But this one turned out to be better than expected. Tho at times the over use of Bay-isms (such as over extended slo mo shots or using the story to support the visuals and action scenes rather than the other way around ,which did make it feel like a second rate pirates of the Caribbean at times) the flow and tone of the movie worked and it was never really boring at over 2 hours. Tho from time to time the story was obviously embellished for dramatic purposes, which resulted in it again looking more like a Disney adventure movie than a true historic epic. But , with overall good performances by the entire cast( and a gorgeous soundtrack) , the movie was quite good/worked well. A pleasant surprise.

Enjoy! Evil fred

a story of courage. or a lesson about politics. portrait of a great hero . or introduction to the essence of Holland national pride. a film who could remind many classic historical frescoes.and who remains seductive for the great beauty of message. because IT has the admirable gift to be the right choice for a large public. not real surprising . only good way for an inspired form of propaganda, adventure and beautiful show.

As an American, I'm not intimately familiar with Dutch history. And that's a shame, because our concept of individual freedom is a direct descendant of the Republic's.

I had heard of De Ruyter, but this film really opened my eyes. I know it's not strictly historically accurate (no film ever is), but it inspired me to read more on Dutch history, and more about this brilliant tactician in particular.

On a different tack, I appreciated this film's superior accuracy in depicting war in the Age of Sail. I've seen too many Hollywood movies with mysterious "exploding solid iron cannonballs." "Admiral" accurately shows that the greatest danger to life & limb came from the huge oak splinters that flew in every direction when a cannonball crashed through a wooden wall.

If you enjoy historical films, and nautical adventure in particular, see this one!

I just finished watching this movie and I was truly amazed how good and powerful this is. It made me to go to Wikipedia and do some reading about Michiel de Ruyter, because the things this man was able to achieve is simply nothing short of spectacular.

It really feels like those big budget Hollywood movies it has huge sea battles, great and really believable acting also the CGI is pretty good. For those who liked the character of Tywin Lannister played by Charles Dance, well you'll find him here as a King Charles II of England.

I can't recommend this movie enough, just go and watch it and you'll be amazed as well. I never give anything 10 out of 10, but this one came very close to it. Let's say 9.7.