Warrior Angels

Joanna Pakula as the leading warrior angel, home from the third crusade with Richard the Lionheart, finds herself at home bereft of her son, who has been abducted by the wicked Grekkor (Rutger Hauer), a perfect Hollywood villain, with no mercy and nothing but scheming cruelty. It is all made up, like a fairy tale, touching both fantasy, Tolkien, medieval romanticism and Hollywood swashbuckles and with a regular happy end, although the film is littered with casualties, mainly on the bad side, while Eve (Charlotte Avery) is a regrettable loss. The fighting is fierce and regular, while as usual in modern films like this it is impossible to grasp all details, since everything just keeps wildly flowing by like a fierce flood of havoc. Nevertheless, it is worth watching although but once, and the boy Peter's constant change of loyalties is not quite logical and understandable, which character is the only flaw of the film: a better director would have been needed. Another confusion is the many different titles the film has been shown under, like "Vengeance of War", "Crusade of Vengeance", "United in Vengeance" and others still, making it difficult to find it and look it up; but the best role and actor is Arnold Vosloo as Luke, who has a constant bad time surviving many hard blows.

A vehicle to an old Joanna Pakula, let's say in last breath of beauty, but if the production is a low profile at least three woman who were casting for supporting role is fine, the Hunter, the virgin warrior which lives in a cave, the Gipsy that lost all relatives and has a reason to fight and the Tramp, really gorgeous girl who wants an easy life, all them worth the picture, Voslo and Hauer were acceptable, the story not quite, bad cheap sets, enjoyable movie but easy to forget!!

Resume:

First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 5

In 1190, the knight Elizabeth (Joanna Pacula) leaves her young son Peter (Sander Kolosov) in England and battles in the Holy Crusades. She is wounded and returns to her village, where she is informed by the local priest that Peter was abducted by the wicked tyrant Grekkor (Ruther Hauer) and his army. Elizabeth decides to build an army to fight against Grekkor, but all the local men are afraid and she only counts with the support of Hunter (Molly Curver) and her bow and arrows; the prostitute Eve (Charlotte Avery); and the gypsy Sybil (Rimante Valiukaite) and her powders and herbs. Later, the strong Luke (Arnold Vosloo) helps them against Grekkor.

"Warrior Angels" is a very reasonable low budget action movie. The story is predictable, but has a good premise and good performances of most of the cast. Unfortunately, the ridiculous and expressionless Sander Kolosov and his permanent smile on his face spoils one of the most important and key character. This boy irritated me, and probably he is a relative of a producer or crew of this movie, otherwise I do not know why he was not replaced by another actor. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Anjos Guerreiros" ("Warrior Angels")

Lady Elizabeth (Joanna Pacula) has proved herself a more than capable warrior ,doing valiant service in the Crusades when she is wounded and compelled to return to England .There she finds that major changes have taken place on her manor.A local warlord ,Grekker (Rutger Hauer) has gathered together a formidable band of outlaws ,is exacting tribute from the local peasantry ,and has taken her only son prisoner ,raising him in the outlaw way.She tries to raise a force to tackle the outlaw and recapture her son but the locals are too cowed and fearful to take action .Instead she assembles a small group of women ,all outcasts ,who are willing to fight on her side .There is the formidable Hunter(Molly Culvert) a skilled archer and sword fighter ;the prostitute Eve (Charlotte Avery)and the gypsy Sybil ,an expert on spells and potions .

Also in the brigand's camp -albeit reluctantly -is Luke(Arnold Vosloo) ,an enigmatic individual with a chequered past and who is uneasy at the actions of Grekker ,and his part in perpetuating his reign of terror.

The action is lively enough ,although budget restrictions don't help ,and the cast is better than usual for such fare .Sadly,the movie does not follow through on its themes ; for instance in the clearly implied sexual attraction felt by Hunter towards Elizabeth .This movie could have been so much better given the talent on display but is mired in the "adequate time passer " category .Watchable but a missed opportunity

I saw this movie under the DVD title "Crusade of Vengeance" it was shot in Europe and has an authentic look and feel, despite some bad CGI. Joanna Pacula stars as Elizabeth of Cooke, who fought the crusades for God, only to return to England and find her son is captive of the evil and greedy warlord Grekkor, wonderfully played by Rutger Hauer.

Assembling a rag-tag group of women warriors, Elizabeth sets out to stop Grekkor and reunite with her son. This isn't Shakespeare, but its well played by a professional cast and the movie has its fair share of humor too!

Rutger Hauer plays a great villain and he imbues Grekkor with style. Arnold Vosloo,who I'm not familiar with, plays Luke, a down-cast knight who ends up aiding Elizbeth. Molly Culver is perfectly cast as the loner Hunter, who manages to be ultra-tough and yet completely appealing.

Its great from start to finish and never gets to serious or too silly.