The Winter Warrior

If the Director/Producer/Writer is going to review his own movie he might want to try reviewing more than just all his other productions! This movie is as bad as the other reviews here at IMDb say, its got no budget, which in itself shouldn't make the movie bad, but on this occasion it really is bad. You can't make a Gladiator/Braveheart style epic with no money and only several cast members (who all seem to appear in every one of this Directors movies). The "Star" who according to the DVD sleeve was in Dune, did have a very small part in the TV series, which surprisingly was not as a Bus Driver (which seems to be his specialty in most of his other bit parts). Even the official movie website trys to download a Trojan virus, with both Firefox browser blocking it and Avast anti virus popping up warnings, its just a pity the same didn't happen when I picked up the DVD, it would have saved me a lot of wasted time!

I'll be honest, this was so bad I couldn't finish watching it - and I've sat through all of MY DATE WITH DREW, which should give you some idea of how poor this is. Looking at this, like DREW, I just wonder why this is on the IMDb. It doesn't look like a real movie at all. It's got one actor I recognise from the TV version of DUNE in it, but he's not very good and the rest of the cast look like friends of the director. Result? A badly acted badly directed barely written film that that looks like a home movie shot on a home video camera.

The biggest surprise is that there's a sequel listed, THE BONE HUNTER. No user comments, no release info, which makes me wonder if it was even made. Because after seeing this, you can't see why anyone other than Max Bialystock would invest in it.

Seen this movie twice now and have to say it grows on you! Set in the 7th Century, it focuses on a Celtic warrior, "Fingal", who is trying to rebuild life after the Scottish Civil War, where so many Scots died. Of course the Angles from Germania arrive, aware of this, and set about raping and pillaging the land and indeed kill Fingal's wife; so the latter exalts revenge! Set in the Scottish Highlands with beautiful scenery, good camera work, and eye candy wenches, this is a good production in spite of its low budget. The actor who plays the villain, Jon-Paul Gates, is particularly menacing and the climax between him and the hero, Fingal, is electrifying. Not in the same league as Braveheart granted but an enjoyable yarn nevertheless!

On behalf of the Scottish people, I would like to apologise to any unwary travelers who stumble upon this ruin of a film. We've produced some movie great talent - Alexander MacKendrick, Sean Connery, Robert Carlyle, Nigel Kneale, Alan Sharp to name a few - so don't judge us on this one. Please.

It's really terrible. There's no easy way to say it. I'll try to be positive and say that it's a Scottish film that's not about drugs and it's a shot on video film that doesn't want to be BLAIR WITCH. Trouble is it seems to want to be GLADIATOR, or maybe THE VIKING QUEEN but it's like watching a kid's first home movie. From a ten year old you'd be proud, but from grown-ups this really is painful to watch. Very painful. 0/10 - and that's being generous to a tee.

Set in 537AD in Britain I thought I'd give it a go and felt but my verdict is that it's so abysmal it's offensive. I can't call her a redeeming feature but I'll mention Victoria Pritchard who plays Jessica, as she is a competent actor and is the only thing that made me not switch it off. If you were to chose this to watch with a friend or partner you would be deeply embarrassed. I've given it 2 stars because I've actually watched worse films, and there is a level below this... there shouldn't be, but there is. Avoid.