Best movie of this year hands down!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I love seventeenth century English history - not because I would like to have lived there (no way!) but because it is endlessly fascinating. So any film made about the period has my mouth watering.I looked forward to this but oh its so bad, Soooooo bad.The historical inaccuracies are legion - really. Its actually quite hard to find anything that's even slightly accurate. As history its so poor you'd think it was made in Hollywood. Not is it factually wrong, with people doing and saying things they did not say in places that they never were, but sharp-shooting with smooth-bore 17th century pistols? Laughable! And that's before we even get onto the politics and religion!It might be possible to relax and consider a fairy story or as entertainment - but its pretty rubbish at that as well. Mumbling characters, dull script...Avoid, avoid, avoid.

The events surrounding the trial and execution of Charles I are among the most compelling in English history. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the film treats these events as a mere backdrop to a personality clash between Cromwell and Fairfax, centering unconvincingly on Fairfax's wife. Cromwell, given here rather more flair by Tim Roth than he possessed in history, is seen to be motivated more by hidden sexual desire than religious fervour or a sense of injustice.While this is ahistorical, it could have made an interesting film. However, the script, by Jenny Mayhew, never rises above the level of daytime soap opera, with the characters constantly emoting about their feelings or shallow artificial conflicts created between them. As if the conflict which ripped England apart at that time was not sufficient!One scene in particular sums it all up. Charles I is being tried by parliament. This extraordinary event is not interesting to the writer. What interests her is when Fairfax arrives and, without anyone else intervening, takes the hand of his wife and leaves! And this is deemed more important than the trial of a king.

The English Civil War is over and King Charles is held within his chambers as Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell continue their reform of the country. With parliament bribed into returning Charles to the throne, Cromwell and Fairfax use their remaining troops to seize control and remove the king from power. As the political changes sweep the nation, personal issues and political tensions between Fairfax and Cromwell threaten to derail the movement.I didn't really watch this film to learn about history or have accuracy and really, it is just as well because, as others have said, this really isn't the place to come to for that. The plot focuses on Cromwell and Fairfax and as such, dramatic license comes into play to make this relationship central rather than the wider history of the period. To me this was a bit of a problem because I didn't know (don't know) a great deal about this part of my history and I found myself wanting the film to educate me. However partially because the delivery style made me assume it wasn't all accurate and partially because the film itself wasn't that interested. For what it wants to do though, the film held my interest as the drama unfolded. It does rather come over as history-lite but the characters worked reasonably well while Barker's direction suits the period feel.The cast are worthy enough even if they aren't brilliant. Scott and Roth worked pretty well together even if neither really got to grips with their characters beyond the superficial level. The support cast is solid with a good turn from Everett as well as Williams, Bolam and a few others. Overall this is a fairly good film that is held together thanks to the central relationship of Cromwell and Fairfax. Could have benefited from a better structure historical-wise rather than throwing in so much behind the characters (that many viewers will not have a contextual knowledge of).

My heart bleeds for almost everyone involved in this film. They obviously tried VERY hard but the low budget shows in every frame. There is an epic movie to be made about the English Civil War ("Cromwell", with Burton and Guinness is by far the best so far), but to do the subject justice you need decent funding. Battle scenes involving 10 actors shot in close up and "can't be bothered" extras are just embarrassing. The other big problem is the casting of the enormous Rupert Everett as the tiny King Charles I. Everett is a good actor and does his best, but his casting is completely inappropriate. Just about everyone in this enterprise deserved to be praised, but it's still a rotten film. 10/10 for effort, but 4/10 for the finished product.