christian-holzer

I am a big fan of fantasy movies. I love Lord of the Rings. But, I am sorry to say, this movies shows, what all can go wrong! The story is thin, the acting is average at most, the dialogs are embarrassing dumb. Even the special effects are not up to date. In one scene the CGI characters even judder ! The only nice thing are Claire Forlani, Kristanna Loken and Eva Padberg (although only one short scene) - but only because of their visual appearance. Leelee Sobieski is disappointing stiff. Jason Stratham is a good actor for action movies, but fiction movies have a story, too. Burt Reynolds - I don't know, why he did it. John Rhys-Davies a veteran to this genre - helpless. Ray Liotta - suffers from bad directing.

One thing at first. If it is a foggy November evening, you are depressed, everything is bad or wrong - than don't watch this movie! It is definitely no movie, that will light up your mood. On the other hand it is a well told story with great actors. It is a story everyone can relate to. Laura Linney gives an excellent performance, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays like he often does, which fits very well for his character, Philip Bosco gives a performance that could be worth an Oscar. So in all it's great cinema, but won't touch mainstream. I don't give a 9 or 10, because the story lacks that genius touch, even though it has good details.