Jour de colère

What makes a B movie? Historically they filled the second half of the bill, were shorter, cheaper and generally inferior to A movies. Today the defining characteristic of a B movie, is budget. Those things which lend prestige to a film simply can't be afforded.

From scripts to costuming, todays B movies are all about improvising and simply making do. Day of Wrath is clearly a B movie but it did seem to have had a reasonable budget to work with. Costuming is impressive. Sets are credible. The script is OK. However when we get to aspects like the plot, well, things start to fall apart.

The plot is clumsy and disjointed. A hotchpotch of Catholic, Jewish, Spanish aristocratic interests mixed in with secret compartments, hidden identities, secret lists and buried family 'shame'. There is not much from the swashbuckler genre that hasn't been throw in to the pot.

There are other flaws. We are well over the half way mark when we discover the inn keeper is Lambert's oldest and dearest friend. He then promptly disappears from the narrative altogether! Phylida Law makes a much better fist of being Lambeth's mother than he does her son. (And this despite Law having but one costume for nearly the entire movie!) Brian Blessed has played one too many riotous and ribald monarchs and has fallen into shallow caricature. And on it goes.

Adrian Rudomin is a journeyman director and a writer unafraid of cliches or tired tropes. His depiction of the Catholic Church is particularly disappointing. All that James Faulkner, as Friar Anselmo, needed to complete his character was a black moustache to twirl and a floor length cap to swirl. He has played similar roles in the past but to much greater effect.

Rudomin sets several scenes in a scriptorium (transcribing room), the medieval workshops which saw rows of anonymous monks copy and decorate texts that were culturally invaluable but does nothing with such a rich setting, nothing at all. The events in the scriptorium could taken place anywhere!

Still, and despite being able to do much more than he did, Rudomin has drawn a tolerable and moderately entertaining movie together.

A final and sad observation concerns Christopher Lambert himself. He was 49 when he made this film and seems tired. He is leagues away as an actor from his 1984 Tarzan or even his 1986 Highlander franchise. This tiredness, along with Rudomin's limitations, confirms the movies' B grade.

After all the terrible movies Lambert has been in over the last 5 years or so, I had stopped watching his films. However, after a recommendation I sought out "Day of Wrath" and I was very glad I did.

This may only be a B grade movie but the story was great and was well supported by good acting and a mood inducing score.

I was kept involved right to the end and I liked the mystery with a historical base. A good action thriller with an undercurrent of conspiracy.

It was better than many big budget films I have seen lately and I hope it is an indication that Christopher Lambert is back to making good movies.

Passable and mysterious thriller with medieval set, in 16th century, Spain, after banishing Jewish people by the Catholic Kings : Isabel de Castilla and Fernando de Aragon . A governor : Brian Blessed assigns the local sheriff Ruy de Mendoza : Christopher Lambert to investigate a series of killings committed by a sinister murderer. While a ruthless Inquisitor, Friar Anselmo: James Faulkner, carries out his own inquisitive justice until the unexpected and twisted final conclusion. Some secrets are better left untouched!. In the darkest days of the Spanish Inquisition one man stood for justice !. No one is safe from his fury !.

This is an intriguing movie with suspense, thrills, intrigue, twists and turns. This is a so-so Hungary/Great Britain/Spain co-production in budget enough. It results to be a whodunit in which there are various suspicious people : the inquisitor, the governor, a powerful Jewish , the Duchess...Who's the killer? Main and support cast give acceptable interpretations. Christopher Lambert is fine as a tough sheriff who has to choose between protecting his family from dark forces and his own conscience when he's related with the killings . Blanca Marsillach =Cristina Marsillach's sister and Adolfo Marsillach's daughter- is nice as the beautiful aristocrat, she produced as well. While veterans actors as James Faulker, Brian Blessed and Phyllda Law give the best performances.

It packs an evocative cinematography shot in Fot studios, Budapest, Hungary. As well as adequate and atmospheric musical score accompanying appropriately the action. The motion picture was regularly but professionally directed by Adrian Rudomin at his film debut, he also wrote and produced, though the film got little success. Rating : 5.5/10, average but acceptable and passable. Only for Christopher Lambert fans.

I was expecting a typical Christopher Lambert movie when I rented this, a pretty badly produced swashbuckling movie with some funny stuff. I was surprised to find that this movie was a little bit more....It is not a 'fun' movie but it is not meant to be. Technically the movie is pretty low quality and the script and editing is choppy but if you can get past those aspects it is worth watching. The international cast makes for a confusing variety of accents, but by the end of the movie you can see why various accents make some sense. This film is meant to inform the viewer of the history of the religious persecutions. It made an impression on me. If you have a social conscience at all, you can see a relevance to today's world events.

An awful script and terrible direction saved only by some decent local and imported actors. Lambert is fine but not given much to work with. Most of the time he seems to have the same slightly puzzled look on his face. Blessed, Faulkner and Law do the character work that they do best and the director should be glad to have had them in. Local Hungarian actors, including Szonja Oroszlany do solid work as well proving that the country has real talent available. Would have been good to see newcomer Ben O'Brien more in the role as Lamert's deputy. Unfortunately, the script sinks the boat and viewers don't have any time to develop a relationship with the characters much less care about any of them. Quick-pace editing means that the whole story moves much too fast.