Minotaur (2006/I)

User Rating:

3.2/10   

Director:

Jonathan English

Writers:

Nick Green (writer)
Stephen McDool (writer)

Release Date:

11 May 2006 (Russia)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Curse the god. Slay the beast.

Plot:

Long ago in the Iron Age a shadow loomed over a lonely village. For generations the village youths are...

Plot Keywords:

Minotaur | Bull | Queen | Empire | Incense

Cast

Tom Hardy	...	Theo
Michelle Van Der Water	...	Raphaella
Tony Todd	...	Deucalion
Lex Shrapnel	...	Tyro
Jonathan Readwin	...	Danu
Rutger Hauer	...	Cyrnan
Maimie McCoy	...	Morna
Lucy Brown	...	Didi
James Bradshaw	...	Ziko
Fiona Maclaine	...	Vena
Claire Murphy	...	Nan
Ingrid Pitt	...	The Leper
Ciaran Murtagh	...	Turag
Angela Furtado	...	Raphaella's Handmaiden
Donata Janietz	...	Ffion

Also Known As:

Minotauro (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and some nudity.

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

UK | Luxembourg | Germany | France | Spain | Italy | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Netherlands:16 | Italy:VM14 | Finland:K-15 | UK:15 | Malaysia:U | South Korea:15 | Singapore:M18

Filming Locations:

Carousel Picture Company, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Company:

First Look International

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In many scenes, especially the scene where Tyro and Didi climb up the wall, there is clearly a steel-wire lifting the actors up, when they are supposed to be climbing by themselves.

Quotes:

Deucalion: Inhale the sweetness!
[Gives the Queen the cattle-skull and lets her breathe into it]

Without the actual myth

The reason why myths like the adventures of Ulysses, Hercules or Theseus survive thousands of years is simply that they are terrific stories worth telling. So quite obviously it was not a good idea from the start to skip the story of the Minotaur completely except that there is a beast and a labyrinth, too. No Athens, no King Minos, no Ariadne, no string for the way out. The script takes us instead to a demonic Crete where a rather African looking, drug inhaling high priest and his sister throw prisoners into the pit until some Northern barbarians start fighting back. The producers better would have made this a fantasy movie with a killer rat in the maze and omit all historical references to the Minotaur myth if they did not intend to use the best parts of it, anyway. Apart from that (and the annoying stupidity of the characters who hide from the beast by shouting a lot), "Minotaur" is an average action movie that deserves an average mark due to its good camera work, lights and editing, I give it that much.