Arn: The Knight Templar (2007)

Not sure where to start. Suffice it to say that I expected much, much more out of this. The first half hour absolutely dragged--and it didn't really hold my interest after that, either. It became an absolute chore to continue to the end.The very first thing I noticed, about 15 minutes in, is the absolutely INCESSANT musical score. I kid you not: if the movie is about 139 minutes long, then music is playing probably for about 130 minutes. It was like they were constantly trying to wring as much pathos out of the shots as possible, by absolutely drowning them in a rather mediocre orchestral soundtrack. As an audiophile, this was my first clue that I was perhaps in for a less-than-thrilling ride. Properly done, a nice soundtrack can punctuate the dramatic scenes. In Arn, their confidence was so low with the scenes that they felt they should create a 2 hour music video.The acting is, again, mediocre and occasionally just plain bad. The script and the actors were all sub-par, along with the direction, which consists of quickly cut scenes, allowing no room for the characters/scenes (or the audience) to breathe or just evolve organically. Within 20 minutes, I could tell I wouldn't care a jot about what happens to these wooden characters. There is no real reason to empathize with any of them, because they are all so stock and cliche, and the direction gives us next to nothing as regards their motivations, their thoughts, or any subtle, humanizing facets to find them interesting enough to care.The scenery of the movie is not half bad--perhaps its only saving grace. The story went by, with endless music, and by the end I felt I had seen it all before, and done much, much better. It was all rather tiresome, and I surely will not be recommending this to anyone.

The one main reason why I wanted to see this is mainly because of the caliber of the cast. I enjoyed watching Gustaf Skarsgard, Vincent Perez, Bibi Anderson and Stellan Skarsgard in previous movies. With one or two recommendations I decided to take a look at this.The movie's plot (remember this is the 3 hour version) is that Arn is a boy who fell off a tower trying to catch the prince's crow. His parents pray a deal with God that if he survives to put him in a monastery. He survives and years later he is a monk who is taught to fight by the former Templar Guilbert (Vincent Perez). He soon falls in love with a woman named Cecilla. Soon after that it is revealed she bears his child. Arn and Knut (The rightful ruler of the throne but now isn't because his father was killed by the current king) go and ambush the King and kill him. Because Cecilla bears Arn's child and that he killed the king when Arn and Cecilla weren't married. Cecilla is sentenced to 20 years at a nunnery and Arn is to be sentenced at a monastery, then after that Arn is asked to fight at The Crusades.Cecilla goes through horrible torment and Arn goes through battle after battle. I'm not really going to go into detail though. After that He returns to his wife and son. Knut is soon on his deathbed and the only way to make peace is to hand over the throne to the son of the former king that Knut decapitated all those years earlier. The only condition that this king has is that Knut's son Erik is to take the throne after him. Arn asks for a person who he trains to observe The King and his actions towards Erik. The King asks this person to go out to a river and drown all three of Knut's children. He seems to comply until the last minute and kills the 2 guards observing him, in collateral damage Knut's youngest son dies. Arn then leads one final battle against the king.The character development of this is really well done. The pacing of this movie is just right (which is why I will never watch the 2 hour version). The Acting (as I suspected) is great. I would recommend this version to people who have seen the 2 hour version or those who want to see a good movie about the Crusades.

I liked this movie because it didn't come from Hollywood. That already earned it several stars in my book. This movie simply tells a tale of the trials of a knight in the Holy Land, and at home. The writer did excellent by not giving the hero modern, biased, progresive views such as were on display by Orlando Bloom in "The Kingdom of Heaven." Hollywood loves to portray Crusaders as bloodthirsty maniacs, and the Muslims as peaceful pious victims. History proves that both sides had both kinds of men. Movies are good when they simply tell it like it was, not like revisionists want us to ee it. I now look for foreign made films on history, especially the crusades. I avoid Hollywood like a dark age plague.

I actually put this in to my Netflix Instant Queue and then avoided it like so many others that I told myself I would get around to. After a few days I figured I would give it a shot. The movie had wonderful acting and the camera work was beautiful! I watched the American version and have since read that the American version is a combination of two movies that are almost twice as long. I will be spending my weekend looking for a copy of both movies to purchase and the American version as well. I will also be looking for the books. I have read that there is now a fourth book so I cant wait to find all of these so I can relive in over and over. Wonderful movie, stellar cast and beautifully shot. I don't think you'll be disappointed. I hope you find this helpful in your next movie selection.