Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque

"Knights of the Zodiac" is a flat adaptation of the acclaimed anime "Saint Seiya", the script takes some elements from the anime and therefore the manga to mix them with "original" ideas, resulting in a boring movie with a poorly made story, practically non-existent. The performances are decent without standing out, the director's work is bad, the cinematography and filming locations fail to stand out or create a mythical atmosphere, the costume design is lousy, the soundtrack goes unnoticed and the special effects have an average result, in some scenes they look well done and in others they look fatal. A bad movie without being totally terrible, but it definitely should never have been filmed.

What do I mean by underproduced?

There is no overarching set of quality control for acting skills, special effects, and it makes the movie neigh unwatchable after awhile.

Want to be an indie film? Hire hungry actors and go cheap on effects. Want to be a blockbuster? Hire A-listers and splurge on effects.

This film is jarringly uneven in quality and even though some of the newly faced actors seem to be bent to pour their hearts into their lines and action sequences, others obviously seem to be there just for the check.

This movie would have been better if it had been run a budget 1/10th the size with actors who actually wanted to do their jobs.

If you are not from Central or Eastern Europe, most probably you won´t be familiar with a name of Tomasz "Tomek" Baginski. He was credited for his brilliant work on the "Legendy polskie" ("The Polish Legends"), a series of short movies bringing the old Slavic mythology into a screen with an extremely modern adaptation. If you are a fan of "The Witcher" series you may remember something like "Oh, yeah, isn´t it a guy who produced the first season?" If you are not, the sentence would rather be "Look, I´ve never read fantasy books and I´ve never played any games. So, where the hell this whole "Witcher" thing comes from?"

There is a purpose in this intro: Baginski has been in the movie industry for more than 20 years but "Knights of the Zodicac" is the first ever feature film which he directed.

Apparently, the idea was similar: it is a known fantasy story, so we bring it to the modern time, trying to make a dynamic and fun movie for all kind of spectators. There was only one problem: this is neither any longer the Slavic mythology, nor an adaptation of a fantasy book which plot is based on Europe´s "Dark Ages". It is a story from a completely different culture with completely different traditions and a very different vision on the things. And, for what it worth, you would make it with their money and under Sony, one of their most conservative studios. If Tomek thought they will allow him to do a sort of "The Japanese Legends", I´m afraid he was very mistaken.

We have to greet Sony as well: every time when it looks like they really cannot go lower, they make a new attempt which amazes even the most skeptical. This time they simply have not selected a right person for a right task. And, by the way, I´m not even mentioning this part or the script where "a good man helps an evil woman with kidnapping and killing children". If Sony thinks this will be welcome by parents who will watch "Knights" with their children, they are probably very mistaken.

As for Tomek, I only wish he chooses a right project next time, something where he really can contribute. If you want my opinion, it would be "Twardowski 3.14" and the expansion of the universe based on the Slavic mythology. I´d say the world would welcome these ones much more than yet another re-boot of some old glory which resulted in a questionable script, questionable characters and very questionable future for all involved personnel.

Having not read the manga on which this is based, I can only judge this as a film. And the reasons to see it are for the hand-to-hand combat scenes (which are well-shot and full of energy) and for the few satisfying moments of personal redemption and self-forgiveness sprinkled throughout.

Sadly these positives are few and far between, and the movie is too often bogged down by dialogue that's inhuman and stilted, a plot that's somehow generic and excessively convoluted, and visual effects that are laughably underfunded and unfinished.

The cast is full of capable supporting actors who aren't helped by the unintentionally funny script nor by the charisma-free lead actor.

Lastly, the movie takes itself far too seriously, and this makes the goofy stuff hard to watch rather than campy and enjoyable.

It had the pieces to be good, but it just dropped too many of them to work.

If this movie was an original creation, i would understand why at moments it would look like one of those 'youtube fan movies'.

But, the source material is right there, - is rich, is vast, is deep, it has heart - and to come up with another B movie, is really sad.

Take the anime tv show from the 80s, you don't have to go to the manga, just the first episode has more soul than this. Take episodes 1-7 right until Phoenix steals the gold armor, and you have your first movie, with great stories, good character development with background depth, several heroes with rich, diverse origins, strong roots and clear purpose within the story.

It's a shame to have good and talented actors like Sean Bean, Famke Janssen and Mark Dacascos, limited by a poorly adapted and a lazy executed project.