Friday, 29 May 2015

"Sword of Vengeance" (Guardian 29/05/15)


Sword of Vengeance **
Dir: Jim Weedon. With: Stanley Weber, Annabelle Wallis, Ed Skrein, Karel Roden. 87 mins. Cert: 15

As opportunistic Game of Thrones cash-ins go, this perversely watchable low-budget quickie at least improves upon its producers’ risible Hammer of the Gods. It has Stanley Weber’s lone warrior – sporting precision cornrows that suggest some Norman-era equivalent of Aveda – falling in with Northern rebels to repel William the Conqueror’s forces, here rendered as thirty blokes stood about a muddy, foggy field in Serbia. The action is circumscribed more through necessity than choice: though director Jim Weedon lends his one-on-ones a brooding ad-land style, he’s forced to frame pitched battles in medium-close shots so as to disguise the poor turnout. Modest post-pub fun, nevertheless. 

Sword of Vengeance opens in selected cinemas from today, ahead of its DVD release on Monday.

No comments:

Post a Comment