Rendel : Les Origines

As with others who commented, I was thinking a "Finnish super hero" would be unique and not something that was a rehash of other super hero/vengeance movies.

Well, I was disappointed, to say the least. This movie is just terrible in so many ways. None of the characters (except for the two older "helpers" for the bad guy) are at all likeable or semi-interesting. The rest are cardboard cut-outs and are never developed beyond their introductions. Also, one never gets to see their faces very clearly since this seems to be filmed six feet away from any speaking character in semi-darkness!

Next is the combat - or what the director considered to be combat. And it is just laughable! Rendel is a lumbering, chubby "super hero" who, along with his combatants, are slow and sluggish when beating each other up! I did laugh out loud at the first "fight" sequence because it was like something from a 1940s movie!

Lastly, the "plot" is typical while at the same time murky. Much of what the good and bad guys do is vague and unexplained. It's just boring!

The main theme of drug dealers and what they do has been done to death and isn't even done well in this mish-mash of cobbled together old ideas! The mythical Finnish town is ugly and uninteresting and we don't get to see any lovely Finnish countryside!

I bought this for $1 at the Dollar Tree so am not out much for this turkey. Do not pay any more than a dollar or less for this movie. It's a big disappointment for anyone looking for coherence or even action!

Skip it!

Down here at the End of the World, as they like to call it, one of the perks is getting transmissions from Cubavision, an FTA channel broadcast from 30°W, orbitting at 30,000 kilometers above the surface of the planet.

Sometimes this channel shows some pretty unusual stuff, as evidenced by RENDEL which showed up with a Euromix of tongues including some Hoch-Deutsch, a smattering of Russkie, suomi, some words of English with added subtitles in Spanish. Of course, the movie doesn't *come* with subtitles.

It was a movie that might hearken to the Bat-Guy but much, much darker and violent. It was highlighted by insane humour that could only be described as macabre. It was also very satisfying, in a way that eventually a house fire is extinguished.

Would I see this again? Sure. And there is a sequel in the works. I recommend it. Unless you're looking for a version of The Sound of Music.

Ya know, I wish we could comment on other's Comments! Because there are SO many Really Bright, and to the point Reviewers on here, people that don't spend an ENTIRE movie just trying to find Fault in it. They can't just go I to a movie with an Open Mind and Judge it accordingly! There's MANY things involved in reviewing a Movie, to ME, 1st and foremost I look at the Budget! Low Budget does NOT mean BAD FILM, it just means they had to work a HELLUVA lot harder to produce their End Product. They don't have the luxury of 10 or 15 "Takes", most of the time they have to shoot the scene once and move on whether it's good or not due to budget constraints, the same with effects... But if the premise is good, and the storyline is good and the actors do the very best they can do nine out of 10 times they put out a really good movie! But you have to be able to look past the low budget, and the flaws!

This is a REALLY good Movie!

I LOVED it and if you can match the above criteria, and not going in already to look for the bad, you can allow yourself to enjoy a LOT more!

GREAT Flick!

Give it a Whirl!

Finland may be famous from some things but one of those definitely is not action films. Only small independent groups seem to make those. Major studios sometimes make crime thrillers and they put violence in dramas too but pretty much never real action flicks.

So, when rating Rendel I feel like the sheer fact that it is a Finnish action film makes me want to give it more points, because I'm so glad someone in the country finally tries to make something cool.

Rendel as a character is quite cool indeed, at least the costume looks good. In essence he is a bit like The Punisher, a vigilante on a revenge mission. The only thing a bit weird to me was that he almost always goes fist fighting even if the enemies have machine guns. I get it his tactic is sneaking and attacking from behind but I just think his boxing method is a bit too unbelievable (because he doesn't have superpowers - or does he?). The hero's origin story is explained in flashbacks of some sort, but not every detail, so part of his "birth" is left a bit mysterious. I think that should have been explained a bit more thorough because it feels a bit random how he got his powers/abilities.

The movie has quite a dark tone which combines the loud punching sounds of action films with traditional Finnish style of crime films which are often rooted in a more realistic/cynical atmosphere...ruthless villains, lots of shouting and swearing.

Overall I'm left a bit conflicted. It's perhaps not quite as good as I hoped for but still step forward in Finnish genre cinema. In comparison to international action movies, well, I think it's average/decent. Recommended for fans of dark masked vigilantes...but not others.

Starts very slow with no major storyline Was expecting much better but do not waste your time