Adormidera

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.

This work is sickeningly awfully in every aspect. Many people from Malta and friends of the team must have voted.

The script is poor, the plot lacks proper development, the dialogues are sickly, the acting is amateurish... I can go into more detail and cover elements such as filming techniques, colour and sound but I'll spare you all that.

The director also resorted to the idea of employing some kind of fake, working-class English accent which can be anachronistically and distastefully hilarious for a very short while but it gets overbearing and tedious right away.

How did that famous tenor Joseph Calleja accept a role in this Z movie? Has he lost all self-respect?

There should never have been a theatre release and the team should have reserved this film for their own personal use.

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.

If one had to be realistic about the expectations of a historical movie made on a low budget, this one certainly deserves some credit. Although in my opinion it falls short in terms of story line and direction, the attention to detail doesn't go unnoticed.

Nevertheless, I found the story rather enjoyable, and particularly in the second half of the movie it became more engaging. Although a large part of the supporting cast seems to be made up of first time actors (judging by their IMDb credits) the remarkable performance by the lead actor, as well as his charm undoubtedly contribute to the movie's visual entertainment. The sword-fighting was also good, especially towards the end.

Overall, this movie is not a blockbuster but worth watching.

The Good - This was a very ambitious project, so I admire the executive producers for taking the risk and investing in such a production. Any experienced filmmaker will tell you that the hardest part of this business is always related to funding. Which brings me to my next positive point, the setting. The visuals of this film are actually very good, the way each set is designed and the lighting used really enhance the feel of this medieval story, so well done to the set designer and the director of photography. And last but certainly not least I applaud the main actor (Andrei Claude) for his outstanding performance as Tristan of Leon. Quoting from a recent review on The Sunday Times "Claude has good screen presence and portrays well the noble hero that has seen his sense of idealism dissipating before his eyes by the callousness of the world around him." I should add that this is also a credit to the casting director who must have had a clear vision of what this character had to represent.

The Bad - I don't like being negative but I have to be honest. The story wasn't well structured and many areas remain unexplained. Some of the acting was rather poor, and I found this a bit distracting.

The Outcome - I still enjoyed watching this film and I recommend it. Yes it could have been much better, but so could World War Z (which cost $190,000,000) and millions of people watched it anyway.