A Knight's War

While it does have the feel of a low budget fantasy adventure (which have resulted in some real gems), there is surprising depth here. It has the standard "defeat an ancient evil" trope but has some clever twists. There is a nice mix of philisophical questioning along the way, leading you to wonder what the characters will do at the end. It's also a nice perspective of 2 heroes as opposed to the huge casts as is popular in the genre. I'm always a believer that budget doesn't necessarily define the entertainment value of a movie, this one proves that point. The world building is pretty detailed, I could see this having been a series rather than a move.

I'll keep this simple (like my mental state...) This starts off well with a great look and atmosphere, and even a clever touch of humour here and there.

But, sadly, after about 20 minutes or so it begins to lose its focus, and its hold on the audience. To me, the forward momentum just kind of stops as the scenes around this time are just very SLOW, drawn out torture in a sense. That does not a good movie make and for me personally is just a very lazy default to an unnecessarily lowest denominator.

That is too bad, really, because I think there was a fairly decent, if not terribly original idea here, but someone definitely dropped the ball in my lowly and wretched opinion. The look and mood though I feel could have been very effective, if there were a decent story to go along with it.

To be fair, I am not a huge fan of these kinds of Sword & Sorcery films (with the exception of course of the excellent 'BEASTMASTER', 'CONAN', 'KRULL', and perhaps a few others) but, especially with such a strong, dark beginning, it is a shame that whomever was behind the actual storytelling to me just simply didn't seem that terribly interested.

I gave it a VERY generous '5' because of the nice look of it and the good look and atmosphere, but if you are looking for an entertaining and compelling story, I'm afraid this isn't it...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MY PARTICULAR WAY OF RATING:

5 - Flawed, but with some entertainment value.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

(Maybe, this statement below which was my original Title was why my first review was declined, IDK... Let me try added it down here)

Yes, a lot of these '10' reviews are clearly plants. But, the '1' star ones are not justified either...

I almost didn't watch this film due to the reviews. Yet, my love for fantasy swayed my decision. I'm so glad my curiosity took over. This film is dark and moody atmospherically. For a small budget; the costume/set design/special effects were all done well. Could the actual story be more developed? Yes. That being said. By the end of this flick everything comes full circle. I personally felt the acting was fine. If you are only into big names on the screen and a 20 million dollar budget. This probably isn't for you. For me personally, this movie did everything it was supposed to. I was throughly entertained.

The atmosphere of this movie reminds me of Hercules The Legendary Journeys meets Dark Souls. And as someone who's a fan of both I think that's awesome!

I'm not sure who pissed in the cheerios of the people hating on this movie giving it 1-Star. I'm sure they're a joy to have at party's. "ugh, can you believe Rachel's choice of music, it's atrocious." Give me a break, at least this film is trying to break away from the mainstream conveyer belt b.s.. I would rather spend my money renting this than $350M Captain Falcon Lame New World slodge.

If you like fantasy, particularly Dark Fantasy, this is enjoyable so long as you're aware that you're going into a lower budget indie movie doing the best it can with what it has.

My likes for this film:

• The witches performance and costume design were phenomenal. Terrifying yet elegant. Makes you want to stare and run at the same time. Truly Souls Bossworthy.

• I did like the plot a lot. It was simple and while a little formulaic at times I appreciated this particular mixture of narrative elements. And the twists were clever even if familiar. If you see them coming, good for you. Have a cookie.

• I think Bhodie and Avalon had good chemistry. They complimented each other well and worked best when they performed as a team.

• I thought the fight scenes were mostly well done.

• Bhodie had some good one-liners.

My Dislikes:

• Obviously this move is on a budget but a little more world building and a bit more character introduction. Felt information was missing at times and took a while to get familiar enough with Bhodie to finally root for him.

• Pacing was okay but it felt kind of like a Two Act movie. I think it may have benefited from a beefier middle act. Which if I'm left wanting more of the movie, I guess that's a good impression.

So overall it was worth my time and my money. I'm happy to support ann ambitious indie film that breaks away from the mainstream. If you're a Medieval Fantasy fan and set your expectations realistically it's enjoyable.

If you like Sword and Sorcery, this independent film is better than a lot of big studio swings and misses like Dungeon Siege, and not at all the unwatchable "fan fiction", like most of the other low budget attempts that are streaming right now. The visuals are great for a low budget green screen movie, and it is intelligently written. The plot would probably make a good video game. On the other hand it is still far from a perfect film. Much of the "acting" is just breathy emoting, and the plot is definitely geared towards fantasy gamers and heavy fans of sword and sorcery fiction, without much exposition, which I actually think is a good thing, but casual viewers most likely will be lost. Also, everything is played super straight, without the sense of joy that old classics like The Sword and the Sorcerer, or Krull, or even the newer movies like Forbidden Empire, are full of. But it works for what it is and is a welcome addition to the genre.

... I gave it an extra star just because good sword and sorcery films are difficult to pull off.