Researching this movie, I found that people adept in the artist of fencing found it to not be such a good view of the sport, pointing out things that were technically incorrect. Having seen many swashbucklers over the years and the use of fencing in plays like "Hamlet" and movies like "My Favorite Year", I can't judge the accuracy, but I can judge the movie. It's sad when you're more interested in seeing her locations they are utilizing rather than becoming interested in the characters, and I spent more time trying to guess where in downtown Manhattan they were. With two terrific leading actors in the Academy award-winning F. Murray Abraham and Eric Roberts, this should have been more exciting, and the general plotline is interesting. It's just the execution and the form that take a beating.
The script is trying too hard to be profound, and did the character played by Abraham is far too obvious based on the first of several dream sequences and the fact that he seems to be seeking Roberts out for some type of atonement or possibly for another motive. The flashbacks are filmed in an awkward technical manner, and mixed with the current setting time, it creates a fuzziness that never goes away. The only one of the supporting characters that is remotely interesting is the smug fencer played by Stoney Jackson. The characters played by Christopher Rydell, Brett Cullen, Elaine Kagan and Doug Wert takes away from the barely interesting major dynamics of the story. Abraham is commanding but his character undefined, and Roberts seems to have barely any personality at all. I'm surprised this received any type of film release at all and didn't go direct to video. It just doesn't really seem to have a public mainstream interest to get more than a couple dozen people into the theater at a time, let alone in a busy moviegoing weekend.
The script is trying too hard to be profound, and did the character played by Abraham is far too obvious based on the first of several dream sequences and the fact that he seems to be seeking Roberts out for some type of atonement or possibly for another motive. The flashbacks are filmed in an awkward technical manner, and mixed with the current setting time, it creates a fuzziness that never goes away. The only one of the supporting characters that is remotely interesting is the smug fencer played by Stoney Jackson. The characters played by Christopher Rydell, Brett Cullen, Elaine Kagan and Doug Wert takes away from the barely interesting major dynamics of the story. Abraham is commanding but his character undefined, and Roberts seems to have barely any personality at all. I'm surprised this received any type of film release at all and didn't go direct to video. It just doesn't really seem to have a public mainstream interest to get more than a couple dozen people into the theater at a time, let alone in a busy moviegoing weekend.