The Pagan King: The Battle of Death (2018)

On his deathbed, the reigning king bestows power to an unexpected heir who must find strength within himself to unite his people against the violent crusades which threaten their freedom.

Director:

Aigars Grauba

Writers:

Aigars Grauba, Max Kinnings

Stars:

Edvin Endre, James Bloor, Dainis Grube

2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Edvin Endre	...	Namejs
James Bloor	...	Max von Buxhoeveden
Dainis Grube	...	Pihto prince of Saaremaa
Gints Andzans	...	Sakens
Armands Ikalis	...	Kadags
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ieva Aleksandrova-Eklone	...	Ulups' wife
James Alexander	...	Sakaans
Maya Arwen	...	Sigi
Toms Aunins	...	Daugulis
Anele Beke	...	Gilla
Kaspar Bindeman	...	Teutonic Crusader
Christopher Dane	...	Ulups (voice)
Agris Danilevics
Aiste Dirziute	...	Lauga
Egons Dombrovskis	...	Viesturs

Storyline

On his deathbed, the reigning king bestows power to an unexpected heir who must find strength within himself to unite his people against the violent crusades which threaten their freedom.

---

Plot Keywords:

king | 

---

Taglines:

The Throne is yours...

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | History | War

---

Certificate:

TV-MA

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie was filmed in 47 days.

---

Connections

References Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

User Reviews

OK movie, but 10 years late.

I like the idea to make a movie about baltic tribes during crusades. There are a lot of interesting traditions and events to explore.

I can feel that The Pagan King wants to be a movie that will introduce the world with Baltic culture and land of Semigallia. However, they put too much accent on showing traditions instead of focusing on characters or plot. The best example is wedding scene. This scene gives us 0 new information about characters. They love each other- we already know it, but what else? We learned how pagan weddings looked like. Well... ok.

Characters are living stereotypes. Bad guy wants to rule this land just because he's bad. Good guys doesn't want to allow him, because he's good. First half of the movie tries to rush all the action without actually introducing us to the characters and as a result there is lack of connection between character and viewer.

Plausibility. I can't believe in this world and actions. Movie budget wasn't great and this fact affected overall movie quality. There are few locations: village, swamp, castle and few more. Village, which is one of the most important locations looks really small and artificial as well as crusader ship- it simply cannot transport so many crusaders.

Visual part of the movie is great. Camera angles and views are well chosen and gives me a feeling of high quality work, especially during fighting scenes. Fight on the sand beach is amazing. Sand and blood is an amazing combination, wish there would be more of that. There are a lot of dynamics and fighting scenes feels natural.... except last one. Fight scene in the swamp with fog and smoke looks unrealistic. Smoke takes over battleground too fast and it feels empty. Film editing makes it even worse, when they show same action with rolling fireballs from different angles all over again during battle.

Overall, The Pagan King gives me feeling of a good movie which struggles because of low budget and poor script. I would recommend to watch this movie if you are interested in old traditions and cultures, otherwise - you can skip it, won't miss anything.

Details

Country:

UK Latvia

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 September 2018 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Pagan King: The Battle of Death

Filming Locations:

Cinevilla, Slampe, Latvia

Box Office

Budget:

EUR28,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$18,598

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinevilla Studio, Platforma Filma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Color:

Color