A low to mid budget Italian historical adventure from Pupi Avati, who was once known for handling such atmospheric horrors as THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS and ZEDER: VOICES FROM BEYOND. This is quite a different beast and not particularly successful, feeling too low budget and meandering to make an impact. A small band of French knights are tasked with heading to Greece to retrieve a sacred shroud but find danger and adversity at every turn. Some familiar cast members in the forms of Edward Furlong, Thomas Kretschmann, Edmund Purdom and Raoul Bova alongside a neat score by CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST legend Riz Orlotani, but the English dubbing is poor and the performances feel stilted. It also goes on far too long and maybe would have worked better with an hour chopped out. One thing it has going for it is the goriness of the battle sequences, with impalements and disfiguration all over the shop, leading to a WILD BUNCH style climax. Just a pity the budget's so low.
7 Reviews
Rambling and dull
grantss13 November 2021
In the 13th century a group of knights set out to find a sacred relic in Greece.
This piqued my interest as it seemed like an epic medieval tale, complete with a quest and all things knight-related. Well, at nearly 2.5 hours it's epic alright, but not in a good way.
This is pretty much a rambling adventure, and I use the word "adventure" very liberally as the word would imply excitement. Here it means the main characters occasionally get into a spot of bother and for the most part get out of it. Unfortunately, most of the movie is less action-filled or when it is it is nonsensical.
So what you have is a drawn-out random plot with the occasional action scene. Some of the action scenes are pretty good though and these prevent the film from being total waste. The final battle scene is particularly interesting. The action scenes are also very gritty - the violence is quite graphic - giving some degree of authenticity to proceedings.
A tighter plot and 30 minutes shorter film and it could have been pretty decent.
This piqued my interest as it seemed like an epic medieval tale, complete with a quest and all things knight-related. Well, at nearly 2.5 hours it's epic alright, but not in a good way.
This is pretty much a rambling adventure, and I use the word "adventure" very liberally as the word would imply excitement. Here it means the main characters occasionally get into a spot of bother and for the most part get out of it. Unfortunately, most of the movie is less action-filled or when it is it is nonsensical.
So what you have is a drawn-out random plot with the occasional action scene. Some of the action scenes are pretty good though and these prevent the film from being total waste. The final battle scene is particularly interesting. The action scenes are also very gritty - the violence is quite graphic - giving some degree of authenticity to proceedings.
A tighter plot and 30 minutes shorter film and it could have been pretty decent.
It piqued my curiosity, but the result is unfortunate
matheusgomes-thirdman29 December 2022
This film has an "obscure film" identity, something forgotten in the filmography of those involved.
The Middle Ages have been recreated with great care here: the settings, the costumes, the habits of the characters.
The battle scenes are also well-done, and sometimes visceral.
The problems certainly lie in the very poor editing, the length of the film (it could easily be an hour less) and the fact that even with more than two hours of film, little goes into its characters.
I confess that I only decided to watch this work because of the participation of Edward Furlong... and to see him together with F. Murray Abraham and Thomas Kretschmann in this obscure low-budget film was... unexpected and different.
The Middle Ages have been recreated with great care here: the settings, the costumes, the habits of the characters.
The battle scenes are also well-done, and sometimes visceral.
The problems certainly lie in the very poor editing, the length of the film (it could easily be an hour less) and the fact that even with more than two hours of film, little goes into its characters.
I confess that I only decided to watch this work because of the participation of Edward Furlong... and to see him together with F. Murray Abraham and Thomas Kretschmann in this obscure low-budget film was... unexpected and different.
beyond the level of incompetence
zordy27 April 2001
Warning: Spoilers
Pupi Avati is a very good director, although very little known outside Italy, who made good things with different styles. His forte is the movie about feelings and small tragedies of life, crepuscular stories set in Italian countryside, but he did an excellent job also with some peculiar horror films, with a medieval film called "Magnificat"( that, although full of historical mistakes had some grace and very personal style), films on the jazz era. What a pity he decided to cross his personal level of incompetence trying to produce a big film on the Quest for the Shroud with scarcely believable knights and an inexplicable taste for gore. The film, except some parts, doesn't work at all. It's terribly edited, with huge plot holes, with sequences that are completely meaningless and a ludicrous finale where it takes an entire army a quarter of an hour to slain the 4 heroes. As in a good old film of the past. The problem is the past is past, and this film fails to recreate that flavour. An the one that actually recreates tastes foul.
Interesting take on an old legend
rundbauchdodo16 May 2002
This almost monumental film by Pupi Avati boosts beautiful locations, convincing protagonists (especially Thomas Kretschmann and Raoul Bova) and a very interesting take on the age-old legend of Jesus Christ's shroud (it's a catholic movie in a way, but it wasn't bothersome for me at all although I'm not a religious person). Even though the film has its fantasy elements, it's rather a pseudo-historical movie about the medieval age, convincingly depicting the possible conditions of living at that time. The few battle scenes are quite graphic (which could irritate average fantasy and historical drama fans), but only depict how atrocious violence is and what effects it has on victims (which should be shown in every film where violence happens!).
Although the movie runs over 140 minutes, it never becomes boring and constantly keeps the viewer interested. Riz Ortolani's score is wonderfully pompous and matches the heroic quest of the title's knights. The only flaw probably is that in the English language version, there are some small characters that talk so muddled one can hardly understand them.
All in all a pleasing experience (the climax is quite dark, though), and it's cool that the movie distinguishes itself from the usual pseudo-historical fodder that is just pompous and delivers no surprises.
Although the movie runs over 140 minutes, it never becomes boring and constantly keeps the viewer interested. Riz Ortolani's score is wonderfully pompous and matches the heroic quest of the title's knights. The only flaw probably is that in the English language version, there are some small characters that talk so muddled one can hardly understand them.
All in all a pleasing experience (the climax is quite dark, though), and it's cool that the movie distinguishes itself from the usual pseudo-historical fodder that is just pompous and delivers no surprises.
Dont see this, you will hate yourself if you do
escherspencil15 April 2002
We got into see this for free and still felt like we had been ripped off. If anything good came from watching this film it was the hilarity from talking about it on the way home. Despite its fair budget the film looks cheap, Edward Furlong is about as convincing as a knight as Hugh Grant would be as a Bond Villain. To give it some due we did see the Dubbed version. The only decent scene has a guys nose being sliced off, there you go, lucky for him he couldnt tell how much of a stinker this film was. Anyway that was the good bit, you dont have to go.
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