At the beginning I was growing alittle bored with this film, allot of talk and nothing much interesting at that, slowly you get a sense of the two main characters and who they are, what they want and there is the film. Two soldiers at each others throats through the Napoleonic era from a simple silly cross of words, it
sounds almost stupid but it shows great human emotion as you follow Carradines character and watch him grow tired and bored of the feud while Keitel is perfect as the egotistical and virtually combat obsessed Feraud who loves a good duel. With his quick temper and short fuse causing the main quibble and many others throughout the story you see both characters change and grow in terms of attitudes as well as looks and styles of the age.This is where we see Ridley Scott's attention to detail and his master of visual art, the film looks stunning all the way through, the costumes are pin point right down to the buttons on the men's tunic's, the sets are small but look fully authentic and the landscapes of Europe are sensational!How Scott got the shots as he wanted is beyond me because it looks as though he made a deal with God for some haha he must have waited some time for just the right weather. Whats more amazing is this was all done with no cgi assistance of course, its all very real which makes it even more impressive and shows just what you can do if you work hard and really really care about what your doing without simply relying on the lazy digital way out.You could never guess it was made 34 years ago now as it looks and plays just as well as any modern historical epic, the sword fights may be few but look perfectly realistic as if the men are really thinking what they're gonna do next to try and live, whats the next move here, no fancy over the top movements (love the way D'Hubert pauses just before the start of one duel to simply sneeze, intended or not I don't know but its alittle something that just makes the moment more real).Seeing as it was Ridley Scott's first film its a hell of start and really doesn't seem like it a tall. Only thing I could say is the film makes you wanna see more of the history going on around them but you don't really see anything, its tantalising and hints at it making you want more, not a bad observation of course.
February 23, 2011
