Black Death
2/4
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean, Carice Van Houten, Kimberley Nixon
Rated R for Strong Brutal Violence and Some Language
A good movie needs one of two things to succeed (or preferably both): an engaging story and strong characters. Without them the movie will tank. That's what happens here with "Black Death." The story is thin and trite and the characters aren't very interesting.
The film takes place in the year 1349. The Black Death, or "pestilence," as it's called here, is in full swing. A young monk named Edmund (Redmayne) is debating whether or not to leave the monastery he calls home to flee the city with his lover, Averill (Nixon). He gets his answer when a man named Ulric (Bean) comes to the monastery looking for a guide. He's going to the same place to hunt a necromancer, and Edmund thinks that this means that God is telling him that he should meet up with Averill. Of course, nothing turns out like he expects.
The film is lacking in just about every department except the acting (considering how talented and underrated the three main cast members are, that should come as no surprise). There's not much atmosphere to speak of. The movie doesn't slow down enough to allow the sense of fear and uncertainty to bleed into the movie; "Contagion" did this much more successfully. The story is clunky and not very interesting. The pacing is awkward, and the action scenes are severely limited in effectiveness by an over-caffeinated cameraman.
The hard work by Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean and Carice Van Houten can't carry the film (the script doesn't allow any of them the latitude to utilize their considerable talents), but it keeps things watchable. The film's central character is Edmund, and consequently he's the one I felt for the most. Edmund is out of his element, and guilt has warped him after he makes a series of bad decisions. Redmayne deserves much more praise than he gets, which is why it's sad that the film isn't good enough to see. Sean Bean has the highest billing, but of the main trio, his role is the smallest. Bean, as underrated an actor as there is, doesn't have a lot to do other than act tough and be a religious fanatic. And poor Carice Van Houten! As talented as she is beautiful, her career never took off like it should have after "Black Book," and she's forced to subside in bit parts like this, although she did have a role as the witch Melisandre in the "Game of Thrones" TV series (which also had Sean Bean among its cast members). Van Houten does what she can, but the script just doesn't do her justice.
"Black Death" is a standard order adventure story that could have been a post-"Lord of the Rings" (sorry for all the Sean Bean references...) fantasy movie, except that the direction is stale and the characters are grumpy misanthropes rather than likable heroes. They're a cheerless bunch, which wouldn't be such a hard sell if they were interesting. Sadly, they're pretty boring. Things come to a dead halt when it turns into a Middle Ages version of "The Wicker Man" with all of its flaws (it's hard to side with the heroes when the villains, at least for a time, are being persecuted)
To give credit where credit is due, the film touches on themes such as faith, revenge and temptation. That's all well and good, but none are developed very much. Any potentially rich material is dropped as soon as it becomes inconvenient for the story.
I've long awaited a good movie about The Black Death. Sadly, this isn't it.
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean, Carice Van Houten, Kimberley Nixon
Rated R for Strong Brutal Violence and Some Language
A good movie needs one of two things to succeed (or preferably both): an engaging story and strong characters. Without them the movie will tank. That's what happens here with "Black Death." The story is thin and trite and the characters aren't very interesting.
The film takes place in the year 1349. The Black Death, or "pestilence," as it's called here, is in full swing. A young monk named Edmund (Redmayne) is debating whether or not to leave the monastery he calls home to flee the city with his lover, Averill (Nixon). He gets his answer when a man named Ulric (Bean) comes to the monastery looking for a guide. He's going to the same place to hunt a necromancer, and Edmund thinks that this means that God is telling him that he should meet up with Averill. Of course, nothing turns out like he expects.
The film is lacking in just about every department except the acting (considering how talented and underrated the three main cast members are, that should come as no surprise). There's not much atmosphere to speak of. The movie doesn't slow down enough to allow the sense of fear and uncertainty to bleed into the movie; "Contagion" did this much more successfully. The story is clunky and not very interesting. The pacing is awkward, and the action scenes are severely limited in effectiveness by an over-caffeinated cameraman.
The hard work by Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean and Carice Van Houten can't carry the film (the script doesn't allow any of them the latitude to utilize their considerable talents), but it keeps things watchable. The film's central character is Edmund, and consequently he's the one I felt for the most. Edmund is out of his element, and guilt has warped him after he makes a series of bad decisions. Redmayne deserves much more praise than he gets, which is why it's sad that the film isn't good enough to see. Sean Bean has the highest billing, but of the main trio, his role is the smallest. Bean, as underrated an actor as there is, doesn't have a lot to do other than act tough and be a religious fanatic. And poor Carice Van Houten! As talented as she is beautiful, her career never took off like it should have after "Black Book," and she's forced to subside in bit parts like this, although she did have a role as the witch Melisandre in the "Game of Thrones" TV series (which also had Sean Bean among its cast members). Van Houten does what she can, but the script just doesn't do her justice.
"Black Death" is a standard order adventure story that could have been a post-"Lord of the Rings" (sorry for all the Sean Bean references...) fantasy movie, except that the direction is stale and the characters are grumpy misanthropes rather than likable heroes. They're a cheerless bunch, which wouldn't be such a hard sell if they were interesting. Sadly, they're pretty boring. Things come to a dead halt when it turns into a Middle Ages version of "The Wicker Man" with all of its flaws (it's hard to side with the heroes when the villains, at least for a time, are being persecuted)
To give credit where credit is due, the film touches on themes such as faith, revenge and temptation. That's all well and good, but none are developed very much. Any potentially rich material is dropped as soon as it becomes inconvenient for the story.
I've long awaited a good movie about The Black Death. Sadly, this isn't it.
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