There are so few movies of this caliber coming out these days, but I guess that's part of the magic; it's like the very brief availability of cinnamon-spiced eggnog during the end-of-year holiday season. Here, Ridley Scott is at his absolute best in translating the very familiar animal quality of an old world to the very new eyes of modernity. However unlike the grandiose large scale battles he is known for (e.g., as in Kingdom of Heaven, 2005), we get a few skirmishes. The real enticement of the film was in the much anticipated showdown between erstwhile companions; which is well worth the wait I can assure you.
Everything before then serves as a kind of foreplay between the nearly imperceptible slights of one man and the openly hostile recriminations of another. The story is seen through the subjective lenses of all three primary characters. And this redundancy isn't tedious overkill either. How Scott managed to pull it off is beyond my comprehension. Either way, its engaging. The intricate details, despite their graphic nature, added still more gravitas, so that even the most pious was anxious for a duel to the death.
What fascinated me most was that this was a match between two extremes and not necessarily between brains and brawn; both men were intelligent and strong. However, where one favored a cunning maneuver in cover of night, the other sought a pitched and decisive battle in open field. It was a tug-o-war between beauty and brutality; between a blade and a blunt object. There was one exchange in the film that was the perfect distillation of what I thought the entire film was about:
"The debt we owe to our friends is the greatest debt of all." said a man.
"Is it greater than love?" asked another.
In other words, all is fair in love and war.
Everything before then serves as a kind of foreplay between the nearly imperceptible slights of one man and the openly hostile recriminations of another. The story is seen through the subjective lenses of all three primary characters. And this redundancy isn't tedious overkill either. How Scott managed to pull it off is beyond my comprehension. Either way, its engaging. The intricate details, despite their graphic nature, added still more gravitas, so that even the most pious was anxious for a duel to the death.
What fascinated me most was that this was a match between two extremes and not necessarily between brains and brawn; both men were intelligent and strong. However, where one favored a cunning maneuver in cover of night, the other sought a pitched and decisive battle in open field. It was a tug-o-war between beauty and brutality; between a blade and a blunt object. There was one exchange in the film that was the perfect distillation of what I thought the entire film was about:
"The debt we owe to our friends is the greatest debt of all." said a man.
"Is it greater than love?" asked another.
In other words, all is fair in love and war.