Adormidera

Maybe this movie doesn't quite meet everyone's expectations, however I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. It's a simple story but yet I found it quite captivating. It's evident in some scenes that the budget wasn't in the millions, whilst in others it looked just like a Hollywood epic. The costumes looked great, most of the sets looked very authentic, the music is lovely and I enjoyed the action sequences. Very interesting to see tenor Joseph Calleja in a featured role, which I felt was played out well. The star of this show however, was rightfully the leading actor who hails from Malta, Andrei Claude. He delivers a very strong performance and a powerful screen presence.

Although visually I feel this movie does live up to its expectations the script does not seem to match up as well. The plot itself is fine, and towards the end it draws you in much more. The dialogue, the development of secondary characters and the transition between scenes could have been much better though.

It was interesting to see how despite the weakness in the script and lack of direction the lead actor still plays out his role as Tristan very well, a character which seems to prevail throughout the entire movie. The stereotypical tall, dark and handsome hero possesses a powerful screen presence and delivers a very charismatic and enjoyable performance.

The battle scene towards the end is also quite gripping, and the action gets even better in the one-on-one segments. Nothing too graphic, which justifies the PG rating, but it keeps you on edge until the the very end.

I support all Maltese productions, but this movie is by far the best one I have watched. I enjoy medieval history and I was impressed with how authentic everything looked.

I did find the story a bit hard to follow in the beginning but it began making sense after the second half.

Most of the acting is good and the different characters are well portrayed. Claude portrays a believable hero as Tristan of Leon and has a strong presence on screen. I also enjoyed watching the fighting scenes in the end, they seemed well choreographed and not overstated. The twist towards the end is completely unexpected and I really liked the ending.

My quick rating - 3,9/10. I realize this is a Maltese film made on a shoestring budget BUT that doesn't mean I can set aside a poor story, really bad acting, cut scenes that appeared like they were editing out commercials, etc. I felt like the whole time I was watching it was more a group of adults got together, bought a damn nice couple of cameras and set out to make a movie, which is fine. Problem being what they churned out was just so poorly done (minus some nice scenery wherever these people live). I want to rate it higher, I really do, but even the points I am giving are down to a sheer decent ending after a whole lot of boring nonsense. I would be doing harm to you if I didn't point out the fighting in this movie is atrocious. Anyway, if you did become brave and see "The Night Crew" after reading my review, then you know the end of this movie as well (so not a spoiler, but more an eluded to spoiler). Either way, 1 minute out of 90 doesn't make up for the rest of the wasted time. Take a pass unless it is on cable for free (which you would assume it was made for anyway by how the movie looks and feels) Oh, if you feel the need to find this, it is also called Seventh Sword : Avenging the Throne.

I find it fascinating how a strong leading actor, and yes in this case also very handsome can turn around a weak script. I only just watched this movie which is also titled Avenging the throne. The story itself is quite straight forward and to be totally honest is rather intriguing all the way to the end, however amongst other areas the script definitely falls short when it comes to details and linking all the scenes together. I would normally switch to something else if a movie doesn't grab my attention within the first ten minutes. Well in spite of the script's shortcomings and a low production value I carried on watching this one. I would have to give all the credit to the actor playing the role of Tristan for this though.