A Knight's War

If you like Sword and Sorcery, this independent film is better than a lot of big studio swings and misses like Dungeon Siege, and not at all the unwatchable "fan fiction", like most of the other low budget attempts that are streaming right now. The visuals are great for a low budget green screen movie, and it is intelligently written. The plot would probably make a good video game. On the other hand it is still far from a perfect film. Much of the "acting" is just breathy emoting, and the plot is definitely geared towards fantasy gamers and heavy fans of sword and sorcery fiction, without much exposition, which I actually think is a good thing, but casual viewers most likely will be lost. Also, everything is played super straight, without the sense of joy that old classics like The Sword and the Sorcerer, or Krull, or even the newer movies like Forbidden Empire, are full of. But it works for what it is and is a welcome addition to the genre.

... I gave it an extra star just because good sword and sorcery films are difficult to pull off.

I'll keep this simple (like my mental state...) This starts off well with a great look and atmosphere, and even a clever touch of humour here and there.

But, sadly, after about 20 minutes or so it begins to lose its focus, and its hold on the audience. To me, the forward momentum just kind of stops as the scenes around this time are just very SLOW, drawn out torture in a sense. That does not a good movie make and for me personally is just a very lazy default to an unnecessarily lowest denominator.

That is too bad, really, because I think there was a fairly decent, if not terribly original idea here, but someone definitely dropped the ball in my lowly and wretched opinion. The look and mood though I feel could have been very effective, if there were a decent story to go along with it.

To be fair, I am not a huge fan of these kinds of Sword & Sorcery films (with the exception of course of the excellent 'BEASTMASTER', 'CONAN', 'KRULL', and perhaps a few others) but, especially with such a strong, dark beginning, it is a shame that whomever was behind the actual storytelling to me just simply didn't seem that terribly interested.

I gave it a VERY generous '5' because of the nice look of it and the good look and atmosphere, but if you are looking for an entertaining and compelling story, I'm afraid this isn't it...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MY PARTICULAR WAY OF RATING:

5 - Flawed, but with some entertainment value.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

(Maybe, this statement below which was my original Title was why my first review was declined, IDK... Let me try added it down here)

Yes, a lot of these '10' reviews are clearly plants. But, the '1' star ones are not justified either...

I was browsing through prime videos when I came across this movie. I knew it was one of those movies that was not done by a big film company and knew it was a low budget but I watched the trailer. After watching the trailer, I thought this doesn't look too bad. Then I read the reviews and I saw some reviews that reminded me of something I would write when a movie was surprisingly good when you didn't expect it. The acting and dialogue were pretty good. The gatekeepers performance was excellent and I expect to see him in other films in the future based off this performance. The male lead named Brohdie had a nice face and reminded me of a mix between Aragon and Boromir from Lord of the rings from his looks and his characteristics. The female lead named Avalon had such a great presence which made her even more beautiful. I really liked the theme of choosing the light over the darkness and whether the light exists or not. I like that they left it open for a part two. I would definitely watch if there was one. This movie entertained me more than a lot of big Budget movies have. It was the perfect amount of run time and kept my interest the whole time.

The atmosphere of this movie reminds me of Hercules The Legendary Journeys meets Dark Souls. And as someone who's a fan of both I think that's awesome!

I'm not sure who pissed in the cheerios of the people hating on this movie giving it 1-Star. I'm sure they're a joy to have at party's. "ugh, can you believe Rachel's choice of music, it's atrocious." Give me a break, at least this film is trying to break away from the mainstream conveyer belt b.s.. I would rather spend my money renting this than $350M Captain Falcon Lame New World slodge.

If you like fantasy, particularly Dark Fantasy, this is enjoyable so long as you're aware that you're going into a lower budget indie movie doing the best it can with what it has.

My likes for this film:

• The witches performance and costume design were phenomenal. Terrifying yet elegant. Makes you want to stare and run at the same time. Truly Souls Bossworthy.

• I did like the plot a lot. It was simple and while a little formulaic at times I appreciated this particular mixture of narrative elements. And the twists were clever even if familiar. If you see them coming, good for you. Have a cookie.

• I think Bhodie and Avalon had good chemistry. They complimented each other well and worked best when they performed as a team.

• I thought the fight scenes were mostly well done.

• Bhodie had some good one-liners.

My Dislikes:

• Obviously this move is on a budget but a little more world building and a bit more character introduction. Felt information was missing at times and took a while to get familiar enough with Bhodie to finally root for him.

• Pacing was okay but it felt kind of like a Two Act movie. I think it may have benefited from a beefier middle act. Which if I'm left wanting more of the movie, I guess that's a good impression.

So overall it was worth my time and my money. I'm happy to support ann ambitious indie film that breaks away from the mainstream. If you're a Medieval Fantasy fan and set your expectations realistically it's enjoyable.

This film is ambitious, it's atmospheric, moody and serious. The costumes are beautiful, the sets and locations are too. The cinematography, score and CGI helps with building this world, and the actors were great.

The flaws: this film needed some early critical editing to the story. There was potential for a unique fantasy world to emerge, but I think what we saw was a patch job of various narrative tropes mixed together.

I think clarity, directness, and the courage to propose/build one's own fantastical world would have had a more weighty creative impact on the viewer and it would have helped immerse oneself into someone else's imagination.

I do not want to discourage anyone from seeing this movie! It is incredibly impressive what can be done by motivated creatives, and it's still very fun. Give it a shot if you have the opportunity!