Royal Deceit
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Movie Reviews of Royal Deceit
Movie Review: An Authentic Attempt with Mixed Resuts
Summary: 3 Stars
"Royal Deceit" is an interesting if uneven movie, telling a Danish tale of regicide and revenge that is similar to "Hamlet". The filmmakers have opted for authenticity in the costumes and props and a kind of Passion Play style of acting and direction, with mixed results. While the sheer acting power and amazing charisma of Christian Bale as the Prince, Helen Mirren as his mother, and Gabriel Byrne as the corrupt king, is mesmerizing, their excellent work is frequently undermined by an underwritten and wandering script and occasionally laughable direction. The battle scenes are staged as if being acted on-stage in a small theater-in-the-round, an odd choice given that they are filmed in the great outdoors. Large warriors trot around on tiny moorland ponies to unavoidably comic effect, and there are other elements that, however historically accurate they may be, undercut the force of the drama.
A young Kate Beckinsdale makes a brief appearance as the maiden who weds Christian Bale; it's fun to see them together so young and then see them together again fifteen years later in "Laurel Canyon". You can also see Andy Serkis (Gollum in the LOTR trilogy) as one of the corrupt king's men.
The main reason to watch this movie is if you are a fan of Christian Bale, Helen Mirren, or Gabriel Byrne (Byrne is particularly ferocious in this movie). Christian Bale's versatility is on display here, and this movie makes you realize that the performances he gave in "Empire of the Sun", "Swing Kids", and "Newsies" barely scratched the surface of his capabilities. The dark streak he brings to the mad Prince is a preview of what he would later bring to the characters of Patrick Batemen ("American Psycho"), Trevor Resnik ("The Machinist") and of course Bruce Wayne, in "Batman Begins".
This movie is also interesting in that it manages to bring a different and surprising conclusion to the Hamlet legend; if you are interested in Shakespeare you may find this alternate version of his tragedy worth viewing.
Movie Review: What a complete waste of talent & source material
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie could have been so good! Drawing from Saxo Grammaticus rather than Shakespeare, the movie aims to present the Hamlet story in a more historical context. This is quite laudable, and certainly the producers had a more than talented cast at their disposal, but this was an opportunity completely squandered. I can only assume that this was done on a shoestring budget, since there seem to be only 2 dozen extras available at any given time & the battle scenes are nothing short of laughable. Still, one can tell a good story and manage to pinch the pennies. The story told here is disjointed, poorly constructed, and far too abbreviated. 85 minutes simply does not allow for the development of either plot or character, and the movie suffers badly as a result. This was a huge disappointment, and only the performances by Byrne & Mirren begin to salvage it. I suppose renting it wouldn't be a complete waste --- it certainly won't be a waste of time, since it's over almost as soon as it has begun --- but only a lunatic would spend money on this dud.Movie Review: Not Entirely Successful
Summary: 3 Stars
This spare film is based on an original version of the Hamlet story. The makers of this film clearly wanted to capture the stark nature of the story and probably the character of life in early Medieval Northern Europe. The actors are a really impressive cast and their performances are quite good. The film is impaired by its limited budget which somewhat degrades the efforts at historical realism. As other reviewers comment, the use of voiceover narration to carry the narrative is not successful. A very good idea but not well executed despite its first rate cast.Movie Review: I Loved It... I Hated It...
Summary: 3 Stars
Shakespeare wrote a play which had a title that would be perfect for this film production. My personal feelings about the story, the Actors and the support team has a 50/50 point spread between Nirvana and Hell. The background "chatter track" was infuriating. The voices had dreadful British accents and the phrases were not appropriate for the time the story was set.
The play I refer to above is: "Much Ado About Nothing"
Movie Review: A fine cast of actors, wasted.
Summary: 2 Stars
After watching this extremely low-budget film of a tale based on the historical story of "Hamlet" it was easy to see where all the money went: to the cast members. The cast is loaded with potential. It includes Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, a youthful looking Kate Beckinsale (she has come a long, long way since this film), and a plethora of the kind of actors that make you ask, "What other movie did I see that actor in?" But the rest of the film fails to live up to this monumental promise. For much of the movie it looks and feels like a made-for-television romp through medieval times. It has a small cast of haggard-looking extras in peasant clothing, royalty that, if not for the crowns they wore, would be indistinguishable from the common herd, and some very predictable and flawed direction. The followers of the king, peasantry included, number about thirty in total and they all live in this small wooden village. The director makes the mistake of using a large amount of voice-over narration to propel the story, which by the end was whittled down to about 90 minutes of Masterpiece Theater shot in the countryside. One scene has Hamlet dashing from a buring hall, sword in hand, but when he rounds the corner of a building his sword is missing; cut to the following scene of Hamlet confronting the new king, his murderous uncle, and the sword reappears in his hand. That kind of blatantly poor film editing is unforgivable. The acting ranges from good to passable, but no amount of thespian zeal could have or did save this project from gradual diminishing returns. Except for the sighting of a schoolgirl version of Kate Beckinsale, prim and proper as all young lasses tend to be, this film is sadly a waste of time and money.