The Gaelic King

Sometimes people forget that not all films can have multimillion Hollywood budgets.

Of course there are some low budget films which are embarrassingly atrocious, some i've reviewed, many more, i'm grateful to have so far avoided.

This is a low budget film, but it does very well with the restraints. I would say where it fell short was with the effects. Why did the 'black cloud laddies' look like extras from 'Men In Black'? Their design was not good. Some of the fight scenes were poor, and why were the Picts wearing tie dyed jeans? I'd also have liked to see this take a different direction, rather than going the 'sword and sorcery' route. There's enough ancient Scottish myths and legends they could've incorporated, if they really wanted to do something mystical.

On the whole though, this really isn't a bad film, it's low budget, and there's a massive difference between the two. It was filmed well, the editing was good, the dialogue was far from the worst i've heard and the story was well told.

Ignore the overly critical reviews of this film. I don't know what some were expecting for a low budget film. Of course, it's not perfect, that stands to reason, but it's far from the disaster some would have you believe.

Hey, what can I say, I liked it. And so will you if you're not expecting big budgets.

Like horses and swords? Me too. Like wicked sorceresses? Me too. Like evil minions? Win. The truth is that low budget movies like this don't often make it to market, and the cover art is so good that people will be expecting big Hollywood money. But one star is just silly.

I found it very enjoyable, under a blanket with a nice cup of tea kind of film. If you know before you start that it's low budget you'll really enjoy it. Good story, fun baddies, some acting is a little wobbly some is strong. Beautiful scenery and some nice tight editing. All in all a really great job, good old fashioned storytelling.

This movie reminds me of the life adventures in the forest we did when we were young. Acting is about that level.sort of ridiculous.

Firstly, when compared to other films in the indie/action/low budget genre, this is exceptional. It doesn't fall into the trap of pretending to be a Hollywood blockbuster, but accepts its limitations and works within them. The story is simple, but works well in its context, and is refreshingly satisfactory, though not at all deserving of a '15' rating (Interestingly my DVD copy has been rated a 12 by the IFCO- a much more appropriate audience) Also, it is really nice to see an good original score- makes a great change from the royalty-free tracks so often used! The beautiful Scottish countryside obviously inspired the producers, and seeing some of the shots you wonder why it isn't used more by higher budget movies.

When compared to the larger genre, the film still holds up against criticism, especially in its story and the quality of the editing and score. The visual effects are not fantastic, but don't massively impact the overall watchability of the film. Certainly not a retelling of history, but an interesting interpretation of the few details known about the period.

In many ways, a historical/fantasy action/adventure is an unlikely candidate for a budget production, but this film manages to pull it off.

Having watched 10 minutes of this flick my one and only reaction was "oh dear".....

In my opinion this really is an amateur effort.It reminds me of the sort of thing you might expect a volunteer dramatic society to put on for the oldies. That said, it would not matter how old I got I don't think I could sit through The Garlic King or Gaelic King or whatever this is supposed to be.

My advice steer well clear. One out of ten from me.