A few thoughts


Caught this on ON DEMAND the other night and man ... wasn't what I expected.
I had heard it was one of the most brutal medieval films ever akin to the anime Berserk or the Conan movies, minus the fantasy elements. What I got was a silly plot, uninspired and nearly bloodless action scenes, and annoying unlikable characters. That said I did like the look of the film and the stuff with the plague was interesting, Rutger Hauer was also pretty good. Not a terrible film by any means but I can't help getting the feeling that this movie could have been much better.

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The brutality is in the gritty realism, not gore. The movie primarily concerns Verhoven's thesis on sex is power, something he expands on in Basic Instinct and Showgirls.

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