Reviews

The first thing you have to note about this film is that is it set in the future. It's post-apocalyptic, so the previous review talking about anachronisms is totally off. Think "Mad Max" meets "13th Warrior" and you have this film down to a tee. It is a pretty well-constructed re-telling of the Norse epic, with the added twist of the futuristic wasteland setting. There was just a little too much sense of "Highlander", however (Christopher Lambert plays a leading swordsman who heals incredibly quickly, possibly immortal, and the title line for the film in its original packaging was- ''There can be only one, to stand against evil''...) and anyone who has seen the second of that ever-more-tedious series will feel that the setting and the acting is quite familiar. All that aside, this film is enjoyable. Not hugely so, but it overtakes lesser films of this monster genre and could even stand a comparison to Aliens: Alien 2, as the beast-work and the tension is about as well put together. There is, for the men, also a pleasing amount of cleavage on display throughout, but it's not excessively surprising if you check Grendel's Mother's filmography... she's a playboy ''actress''.

All in all this film is about as pleasing a good computer game storyline- not a masterpiece on its own, but flashy, funky, and with some well choreographed if not horrendously unrealistic fighting scenes. I bought the video and I think it will get a good airing.

This film is amazing. That is the first major point. Despite the main star, it is an incredible work. The other comments about it being ''Braveheart in the Sun'' are way off- for a start, Braveheart looked nowhere near as accurate as this, nor did Braveheart manage as many complex emotional scenes. Braveheart substituted large sections of plot and historical accuracy for mass battle-scenes with shaky camera effects. This film is out to show the futility of the Holy War and to speak about religious and cultural tolerance, and how the belligerent few will always force a war between two otherwise peacefully co-existing nations. And demonstrate it it did. But the other thing you have to admire about this film is the degree of authenticity. Yes, any expert could pick at the weave a bit, but ultimately, it looked stunning, and real. The battle-scenes were bloodily realistic, not glorifying or decrying war, but like Gladiator showing it for what it is, no more, no less. Bloom was perhaps a bad choice, but his acting is probably the only bad thing in an otherwise flawless film.

Anyone who sees this film will understand that it as much about Israel today as it is about Jerusalem then.