Disappointment for a huge fan!

Best movie ever!

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Who would have thought it? This is a historical romance set in a time period virtually ignored by Hollywood, based on a 12th century narrative. And it's actually good! I wasn't expecting the themes here to be dealt with in such a mature fashion, but it goes to show that films like this can still be made when the right intentions are behind them. The director of this one is Kevin Reynolds, who made the much-maligned ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, but thankfully Bryan Adams is nowhere in sight this time around. The lack of modern knowledge about this period in history means that there's less scope for historical anachronisms, but they're still here! I can overlook the presence of a Norman-style motte and bailey castle, but to have one character quoting a John Donne poem (written some thousand years after this film is set) is inexcusable. Watch out for the fork at a dinner table as well.Otherwise, the backdrop looks and feels good, and I was pleased to find that there's action and battle here, including a rousing climax and a tournament that recalls that of GLADIATOR (Ridley Scott served as producer on this). The central love story is slightly mishandled, because we end up losing sympathy for the lead characters, particularly Isolde, whose frequent errors of judgement contribute to the tragic storyline. I didn't particularly care for the casting of Sophie Myles either – her Irish accent is all over the place. Imported American lead James Franco is better as the tough hero, but, as with Costner, there's something that screams 'Hollywood' about him, taking away from his authenticity. The good news is that we get Rufus Sewell playing the third spoke of the love triangle, and he's simply superb as the sympathetic king. Sewell usually gets typecast as the bad guy in Hollywood films, but he plays a fully rounded figure here, and he's the best thing in the film, bringing all his scenes to life. I would say that I wish he'd played the hero, but I think his character is actually much more interesting, so I'm not complaining.So, as with ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, despite the anachronisms, this is a thoroughly entertaining movie and one I wouldn't mind watching again. Stunning location photography, romance, battle, conflict, a fine supporting cast and plenty of twists – that's what I want from my historical films!

That was the time when England, or Britain or even the British Isles were divided along two lines, The Celts and the arriving Anglo-Saxons after the Roman colonization. Ireland was Celtic and Cornwall too. They thus had two lines of constant struggling that united the Cornish and the English against the Irish. On one side the wars between the Irish and the Celts from Cornwall and on the other side the wars between the Anglo Saxons from let's say Sussex and the Celts from Cornwall. The social system is feudalism though the presence of Christianity does not seem to be very advanced, and this form of ,feudalism is more the social disorder that existed after the Romans had gone, when the Germanic invaders are settling in the country and when slavery had disappeared though serfdom has not yet been established.. Ireland was Christianized in the fifth century. So we are before. Before the Bishop Bede who Christianized England. Yet there is some desire to unite the Cornish and the English to defend themselves together against the Irish. This is done by the alliance of the Cornish Lord Marke with the daughter of one of the main lords on the English side. But the young woman had saved the first knight of Lord Marke, when he had been sent on the sea in a small boat because he was thought dead after a battle and was supposed to be buried at sea like that. She got him out of the boat that had come to a beach near her own residence, then healed him, and of course fallen in love with him under a fake name. She was Isolde. The alliance was worked through a tournament and Lord Marke being one- handed had asked Tristan who had come back to him, healed and strong, to represent him in the tournament. He wins and Isolde thinks he is the prize of the fight. But she discovers he is not and then love and duty start fighting a war to the death, and to the death it will be.Married with Lord Marke, then crowned queen along with Lord Marke who is crowned king, Isolde is following her inclination towards Tristan in spite of the resistance on his side in the name of honor that he considers more important than love. That attraction, that appeal end up in an affair and that affair is discovered by the English, including Isolde's father, and some of them try to attack Lord Marke and be done with his desire to be king and his territory would be conquered and integrated into England. Though Tristan was arrested and put in goal and Isolde was banned, Tristan is freed within the battle against the assailing treacherous English, he saves the situation and then dies of his wounds in the arms of Isolde who had come back. And the end is sad because love is after all stronger than honor, though honor has to be satisfied first. Let's say Lord Marke is not entirely feudal in his behavior since he should normally have executed both the treacherous wife and the treacherous knight, which he did not do and in the end he yields to love and let Isolde be with Tristan when he departs from this world. Lord Marke is also in love with Isolde, and when you love you always come to sharing your love with the world.A good film though the surrounding feudal world is hardly really seen or shown, neither the religious practices, nor the simple people who are not yet serfs and no longer slaves, but what are they? This story situated so far away in feudal times is by far antecedent to all those stories of courtly love that were to come later, yet it is the symbol of the emergence of new human feelings and even passions: the passion for loyalty and honor and the passion for love, the latter becoming stronger and less institutionalized as some kind of exchange goods in feudal deals.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

There I go poking my head around b-movies and Italian films to see what Hollywood's offering and run straight into this madness. This film involves love in the dark ages, dodgy acting, dodgy geography and many daft situations. It was good for a right laugh anyway. James Franco, who has about two facial expressions and one obvious American accent, plays Tristan, an orphan taken under the wing of a Cornish king. The Irish have taken over Britain (did this even happen?) and during a battle with some big guy Franco gets poisoned, mistaken for dead, and set adrift on a boat in the Irish 'Ocean' (guh?). In a jaw-dropping contrivance, he ends washed ashore on the Emerald Isle, just feet away from the bride-to-be of the guy who poisoned him! That was lucky! Nearly as lucky as the speedboat he uses to get back to Cornwall (this looks dafter than it sounds). Obviously the bride-to-be is Isodle, and they fall in love, but, through a series of incidents she ends up betrothed to the Cornish King, and end up bumping uglys behind his back, yadda yadda betrayal, retribution etc. What you have here is a classic bad film. The Irish King has a non-Irish Glaswegian accent (I kept expecting him to ask the other cast members for ten pence for a bottle of cider), and just about everything that happens you could have written down on a napkin beforehand. We also get treated to not one but two death speeches, where the character concerned clings to life long enough to spout some crap. "Bury me…in a *choke*…mahogany casket with *choke* a rapier work base but…don't…use…pewter for the handles as *gasp* it will perish in the *choke* soil…also…have people…*ugh*…wear a two tone…*gasp*…ensemble that is…aesthetically designed…to…augment the natural…light of the glade…where I am to rest."

It was valiant effort to make this movie to acquaint modern audiences with this legendary tale behind the famous opera. Like another famous medieval legend, King Arthur, it's got a frustrating but passionate story or forbidden love. This time it's between an Irish princess and a warrior from England. Yes, they've been fighting since way back then.The main fault is in the casting and acting of the leads. Sophia Myles isn't pretty enough to be the lead. Although not unattractive she is more supporting cast than romantic heroine. She is probably one of the reasons this movie wasn't a big hit. James Franco looks dashing but rather sullen and inexpressive. He doesn't bother to fake an accent much which is good because it might have been a disaster. Supporting cast are better with good performances from Rufus Sewell, Mark Strong and the now rising star Henry Cavill.The battle scenes are confusing with everyone looking alike. Not too violent luckily. Overall worth a watch to see the story brought to life.