Arn, the son of a high-ranking Swedish nobleman is educated in a monastery and sent to the Holy Land as a knight templar to do penance for a forbidden love. Recap: Arn Magnusson grows up as part of one of a few feuding royal families, battling over a small country set in nowadays southern Sweden, his best friend Knut slated to become the next king. But a fateful day rivals kill Knut's father the king and usurps power. Knut is sent to safety in Norway, and Arn is sent to a monastery. Ironically, when Arn returns he returns a man skilled with the sword and Arn is mixed up in a renewed battle for the throne, as Knut has returned from his exile. But their enemy has powerful allies, among others the church, and Arn and his love Cecilia is sentenced to 20 years penance. But Arn's sentence is changed, he is sent to the Holy Land to become a Knight Templar.<br/><br/>Comments: The most expensive Swedish movie to date, and it shows that it is an ambitious project. The cast is large, and many well known actors stars in the movie, albeit in supporting roles only. But it shows most in the splendid and varied settings, from the plains of Sweden to Jerusalem (shot in Morocco) and with the massive amounts of equipment. Actually, it is a true epic with all of an epics elements. Simply put, it is grand.<br/><br/>However, even if the visual aspects and the surroundings are great, the story is not more than average. I do enjoy the genre, and I did enjoy this movie too. It runs for more than two hours and manages to entertain all the way. But it isn't so good that I want to own it. The story is nearly divided in two, Arn's youth and upbringing as one part and his adventures in Jerusalem as the other. The first part did seem a little long and slow at times, even though it left out some key development. It focuses heavily on Arn and Cecilia, but almost complete leaves Knut's struggle for the throne out. More of that instead of Cecilia's life in the monastery might have quickened the pace.<br/><br/>One should note that this is the first part in a two movie series. So the story is just halfway when the movie ends.<br/><br/>6/10 On paper, Arn: The Knight Templar looks almost guaranteed to be an excellent movie. The story of the titular character is enough to get producers frothing at the mouth; he's a Swedish nobleman, raised in a monastery but trained to be a soldier who finds himself exiled to the Holy Land for twenty years. He fights in some of the most significant battles in the war for Jerusalem, meets the legendary Saladin, rises through the ranks and then loses it all and ultimately finds redemption through bloodshed and war. It's not surprising then that a film which promised to be the Swedish answer to Kingdom Of Heaven should attract such a large budget and several notable actors, so why then is it so rubbish?<br/><br/>Well, if you're watching this in England on DVD or Netflix, the short answer is because it's actually two films crammed into one. Originally running at over four hours, it's now just shy over two and the end result inevitably feels rushed. Key scenes have been cut, supporting characters drop in and out of the film for seemingly no reason at all and years literally flash past in a matter of minutes. <br/><br/>Why for example does Arn's father disappear without any explanation? Why is the incompetent Gerard De Ridefort suddenly made Lord Commander of the Knights Templar? Who is the Knight that can't take his eyes off Arn in the final climactic showdown? And perhaps most significantly of all, why in the name of heaven does Cecilia's sister claim Arn seduced her when her motivations are never established and it doesn't seem to benefit her in the slightest?<br/><br/>With so many gaps in the narrative, it's left to the musical score to tell the story rather than the film itself and sadly, it does so constantly. The film is accompanied by a big, booming orchestral soundtrack that tells the audience when to feel sad, triumphant, nostalgic and it never, ever ends. There's barely a moment when the thunderous clarion call isn't blaring out the speakers and it isn't helped by the rather lacklustre battle scenes either. The arrows and mud covered final battle isn't bad, but the rest are over ridiculously quickly, while the lack of wide panoramic shots demonstrates that the budget maybe wasn't as high as they'd want you to think. Even the Battle of Hattin, one of the most significant clashes of the crusader era consists of little more than a shot of galloping horses and Arn looking a bit concerned, before waking up covered in blood and grime.<br/><br/>All of which means that the English version of Arn: The Knight Templar is a frustrating and deeply disappointing film. It's been edited into the grave and switches scenes so rapidly that it comes across as a nervous, jittery film. If you can track down the original version and its sequel Arn: The Kingdom At Road's End watch those instead, but this abbreviated halfway point is just awful.
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366 weeks ago