To kako - Stin epohi ton iroon

Viewed at the Festival de Cannes 2010

A sequel to the way, way better 2005 film, Evil In The Time Of Heroes is, sadly, a mess on every level. Previous reviewers have said this is a Greek film for Greeks! And I am sure in the original language the characters and situations have far more resonance. But nothing can disguise the fact that in terms of what matter; story, script, characters, development, direction and, well, everything that goes into a film, this production got away from all those concerned and, at best, looks like it's being made up and improvised as it goes along.

Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, because let's-do-the-show-right-here can still have its charms. But for Evil In The Time Of Heroes this doesn't apply because the film is so confusing in terms of narrative and continuity it's impossible to figure out hows and whys. Historical flashbacks, featuring Billy Zane (I think a sad effort to throw in a 'name' after everything else has failed) try to make sense of what's going on but serve only to add more confusion.

Okay, so the story makes no sense but there's always the acting, right? Not in this case! This is one of those films best viewed with your eyes closed! But maybe these people are big in Greece and household names, so who knows? In any event, there is every Greek stereotype on display here, but since that's the Greeks poking fun at themselves I've no beef with that.

To end on a positive note: I really do respect anyone who makes a film and Evil In The Time Of Heroes makes a real effort. Unfortunately it doesn't go anywhere. If the film makers return to their roots, examine how and why the 2005 film works and this bigger-budgeted one doesn't, then here's all success to their third outing.

I absolutely respect that the filmmakers did a fine job with the budget that they had, and its very clear that everybody involved had a great time making this movie. And you know what? Good on them! I'm glad they took something so ridiculous and cheesy and just ran with it, having a blast along the way; but this film is surely not for everyone and in the end wasn't for me. In many regards it is clear that "Evil in the Time of Heroes" was simply meant to entertain, and to a degree it certainly succeeded. I laughed and gasped and had a half-decent time (not a stellar/memorable time mind you). However, when all is said and done I found this particular venture into the realm of ridiculous horror was too stylized and ambitious for its own good.

For starters, I think it can be easily argued that "Evil in the Time of Heroes" works as an experimental film more than anything and as such I can honestly say you will more than likely hate this experience if you are not familiar with this type of filmmaking. This film is literally all over the place. It jumps back and forth between modern times to ancient times, between current events to hours/days/minutes/seconds ago, and after a certain point it just becomes clear that the film doesn't really know when or where it needs to focus and truly doesn't care. This is fine to an extent, but it also becomes slightly frustrating and eventually grows stale.

As such, "Evil in the Time of Heroes" is a definitive example of the hand-held shakiness, quick cutting, fast paced, bizarre camera angles, seemingly direction-less style which seems to pop up every once in a while (even in mainstream cinema like with "Crank" and "Crank 2: High Voltage"... only amplified).

Furthermore, it becomes clear that one may not even be able to fully appreciate the themes and jokes without some understanding of Greek history and modern life in Athens. Of course there is a large degree of slapstick humour, situational comedy, and an overall absurd awkwardness which can be enjoyed by all. And I certainly valued those aspects. But the completely random pacing of the film, coupled with the preposterous actions its characters take and the bizarre situations that occur, are sometimes a little too much to choke down.

So take this review as a little forewarning on what to expect. "Evil in the Time of Heroes" is NOT your typical horror-comedy along the lines of "Shaun of the Dead", "Dead Alive", "Night of the Creeps", "Re-Animator", "Return of the Living Dead" etc. It is something entirely different... ABSURDLY different. With this in mind, perhaps you will enjoy the film for what it is!

Firstly i'm sorry for my poor English, i'm Greek and i'll try my best to be understood..

well, i am an average movie fan and i rarely watch Greek movies.. nevertheless i saw this movie about an hour ago and i want to see it again and again.. it isn't, of course, the kind of movie that will be remembered as brilliant or even as clever (i'm referring to the plot) but it's a fun movie.. and i mean FUN, like "big troubles in little china" or "pineapple express".. cool dialogs (i don't know how they look in English subs), cool action and gore scenes, weird & funny heroes, almost no plot at all. i like the special effects too... really.. they look like special effects from 90's movies and that's part of the fun too. the director does a good job focusing on the fun side of killing zombies and that means no drama, no fear for the heroes' lives, no atmospheric scenes.

in comparison with the rest Greek movies, which mostly are unfunny comedies or romances or the kind of movies that critics love but they are impossible to be understood by the average viewer, TO KAKO STIN EPOHI TON IROON is far more watchable.. personally my favorite Greek movie of the decade.

Picking up where the first film left off, the survivors are now on a race against time to defeat the evil that has trapped Athens before international forces drop the bomb that will destroy them all...

The first film probably should have ended where it did without this follow-up. While I appreciate the attempt to explain the evil's origin, the introduction of the world outside Greece... and the presence of Billy Zane (who either speaks Greek or has a person who does voiceovers with his tone perfectly), it just cannot compare to the first film.

The effects are cheaper, the plot is thinner (which is a bold claim for a zombie film)... and overall it was just not as fun. The increased supernatural elements were a big turn-off. I liked the introduction of militant groups that take advantage of the chaos, but they did not have time to be developed and I have no idea what their motives or anything were. Perhaps they had none?

Worth watching? Not so much, but maybe if you really need to see who survived the first film and how...

The first movie was really good. Even though the special effects were terrible, it had everything a good Zom-B-Movie needed: action, fun lines, great characters.

Having seen the trailer of this sequel and understanding a few things about the storyline, also knowing that they had a better budget this time (having Billy Zein sure wasn't for free) left me with huge expectations on this one. Too bad they were never met.

The idea was cool but the script was terrible. Bad lines, mostly cursing whenever they could not find a good line to use. Some of the acting was still bad, I liked the character of the father of the taxi driver though. Fun Greek dude. The punk could be a good additional character, however he was nothing but a regular boring character with punk clothing and appearance.

I had to pause the movie multiple times for a break though as it had large moments where it was uninteresting (or should I say boring?) The action was definitely missing. Lame love stories and chasing bad guys instead of zombies to a post apocalyptic Athens...

The special effects were somehow improved but I was still disappointed from the zombie killings. No inspiration, they were just penetrating the zombie heads with everything you can imagine: sticks, bones, cut off hands, shoes whatever!! Seriously guys, I know its a fiction movie, but how could anyone pierce a scull with minimum effort and a 'weapon' like that? I'm surprised they did not kill any zombies by cutting open their heads by hitting them with a raw egg or something...

Overall, it seems to me like if the script was written overnight and the movie shot within 2 days (but it wasn't!)