Tristan & Isolde (1 Viewer)

[Tim Glover]

Well, didn't really want to see this but I got outvoted. :b I went in with rather low expectations since I barely knew the film had just opened. Talk about a quiet release?

Not bad though...not great either. Better than I expected and I did care about what happened to the characters.

I kept thinking of Braveheart meets Romeo & Juliet. Not exactly that but you get the idea. James Franco is pretty good in this, and with the right roles, does have a chance to be a good actor. He's got screen presence.

Sophia Miles is a knockout. She reminds me of Kate Winslet some. She also commands your attention when on screen. The leads work hard at making you believe what they share is real.

The romance is effective. Could have easily been cheezy but it's not. It's also a sad film.

One thing I noticed that was a bit unusual was the aspect ratio. It's 1:85.1 instead of the 2:35.1 used for films like this. Not a bad thing, but it might have benefitted from having a more epic look to it. It's filmed rather dark and grey though. I'm sure that was the intent.

I read some of Ebert's review this morning, and I agree with this comment:


It's a pretty good film. Don't be too quick to write it off...

7.5/10

 

[RyanAn]

I really enjoyed the film, I liked how it was marketed as something before Romeo & Juliet, when we all know the plots are fairly similar. A nice amount of action, good character development and relationships. I think it was less fluff than some of the average films like it.

Ryan

 

[Tim Glover]

I thought I might have been the only HTF member who saw it. It is better than you think...

 

[Andy Sheets]

I've been curious about it since I read that Ridley Scott was keen to make it, and plus I know some people that are really into Arthurian fiction and the original story, so that's rubbed off on me a bit I might have to wait until dvd, though.

 

[Tim Glover]

Probably won't have a long run in theaters so DVD should be a quicker than normal thing. I would guess an April or May release?

I feel like I've been having to apologize for liking this. This is self-inflicted for sure but something kept telling me during the movie that I shouldn't be caring like I did.

Did you all think that Sophie reminded you of Kate Winslet?

 

[andrew markworthy]

Sorry to sound dense, but this isn't a film version of Wagner's opera is it? I can't imagine more than a handful of people in the world watching that (even most Wagner fans think it's a snoozefest).

 

[JeremyErwin]

It's part of the Arthurian myth cycle--
source

And honestly, you shouldn't judge a story by one operatic treatment. How many versions of Figaro have been done?

 

[ChrisBEA]

I saw it too! I also liked it, thought it was a lot better than expected.

Good action, romance, character choices that make sense.

Worst part would have to be that a good chunk of the dialog was a little to the clunky side. But both Franco and Miles had great screen presence.

What is it with some movies getting such horrendous trailers?

 

[Tim Glover]

This was poorly marketed for sure. Again, this is not a great film but it did deserve a better marketing campaign. I'm sure that makes the actors and director feel loved. :b

 

[Brent Hutto]

We saw it last weekend, partly because the trailer looked intriguing, partly because we are familiar with James Franco and partly due to Ebert's review. Overall, not particularly enjoyable. The theater was full of girls and women in groups who were obviously expecting a "chick flick" and I guess that was somewhat our expectation, too.

Instead it turned out to be a slow-moving middle ages testoterone fest wrapped around the story of two young lovers who could neither keep their hands off each other or step forward and declare their feelings to everyone concerned. All anachronistic poetry aside, the love story just didn't rise to the level of tragedy. Also, the depiction of various locations and characters was not sufficient for me to follow who was doing what to whom at several points in the story.

I thought Rufus Sewell stole the show every time he was in a scene. In comparison, Franco came across as a rather lackluster hero who only fitfully portrayed whatever it was that the other characters presumably saw in him. The young actress playing Isolde fared better.