Religious (dis)order

According to the narrator of Christopher Smith’s latest genre derivative Black Death, the plague is estimated to have wiped out around 50% of the European population. When people around you are dying off at an alarming rate and you can in all reasonability be next, you want answers: why is this happening? In Medieval England – the year of our Lord 1348, to be precise – the young monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne), questioning whether the plague is possibly some sort of punishment for their sins (“but for what sin?”), volunteers to lead a group of the bishop’s knights to a remote village “across the marshes”. 

Apparently, this particular village is unaffected by the plague. Instead of instilling some gratitude that at least someone somewhere is free from the disease, it elicits suspicion: why that village in particular? What do they do or have that keeps them safe from the plague? According to the leader of the knights, Ulric (Sean Bean), a necromancer is the reason for the village's proliferation. And within Christianised Britain, necromancy and any other pagan activity and witchery will result in death to those who transgress against God.

So off go the monk and the knights – including the film’s best secondary character, the serious minded older knight Wolfstan (John Lynch) - to fight what they believe is the good fight. As everyone who’s ever seen a medieval epic or adventure knows, battles, dismemberment and death await on their quest. We know that the knights’ numbers will dwindle, and that much will be sacrificed on their way to the mysterious village.

But while Black Death hooks you with its premise and the promise of swords clashing and heads rolling, at a certain point the film becomes a surprisingly sombre tale of faith, religious indoctrination and the evils that men do in the name of their deity. It’s not as weighty or innovative as Valhalla Rising, as it still maintains certain genre conventions. Yet Black Death’s final half hour opens up interpretations on how certain events actually proceeded for the characters and the audience, which contributes to the film’s overall scepticism in the belief in the supernatural. In this sense, it’s less an epic than many other medieval actioners, and also more.

Christopher Smith is an exciting minor filmmaker, ‘minor’ in the sense that he hasn’t yet broken out into mainstream cinema even though his movies are all genre films. As Black Death is ostensibly a period adventure, Triangle was a female-driven thriller while Creep was a horror feature. But there’s always something different to Smith’s films, which makes them worth seeking out. Shot in Germany, Black Death looks beautiful and features convincing set designs, everyone making the most of what was surely a very limited budget . And it has Carice van Houten, the gorgeous spy in Zwartboek, whom I failed to recognise. 

Black Death is brutal and grisly, as befits its type, yet contains a single scene of battle. The film’s interesting contradictions make for absorbing viewing in spite of some unimaginative dialogue.

Soaring Roman adventure

Kevin Macdonald is a talented, versatile filmmaker. Debuting with the awe-inspiring tale of survival in Touching the Void and following that up with the political thriller The Last King of Scotland, he goes for something completely unexpected: a conventional, action driven quest story. I must admit even I was surprised that The Eagle worked out so well.

During the Roman conquests, there was one area that Emperor Hadrian didn’t manage to tame and subdue: the north of the area now known in the UK as Scotland. To keep the northeners out of his area and to protect his people from the northerners, Hadrian commanded the construction of a massive wall between the north and the rest of his world. It is in the north, though, that the legendary tribute of the Roman Empire, the golden Eagle, was surrendered by a cold, hungry and scared Ninth Legion – hence the references to the Eagle of the Ninth – to history.

Flash forward a few years, and strapping lad Marcus (Channing Tatum) has so successfully climbed the ranks of the Roman army that he soon commands his own fort. Not long after his arrival, his bravery puts him in a precarious situation and he ends up living with his uncle (Donald Sutherland) and with a slave, Esca (Jamie Bell) to his name. Soon adventure by way of road movie conventions unfolds as the search for the Eagle starts.

With stunning Scottish scenery and a surprisingly dapper performance by Tatum, The Eagle recreates a fascinating period from Roman history mixed in with historical legend. It uses the class tension between Marcus and Esca to strong, if expected, dramatic effect and doesn’t flinch from on-screen brutality. It’s a perfect companion piece to Neil Marshall’s more kinetic Centurion with Michael Fassbender. Spectacle is important for both films, but The Eagle is the more measured, character driven film.

After a year of battling robots, superheroes, indulgent slow motion and accelerated fast motion across the action and adventure genres, The Eagle demonstrates how, sometimes, a simple story well told can be unexpectedly gratifying. It’s a genre film through and through, evoking themes of honour, integrity, duty and responsibility, and without the excesses of Rome.

Dark Tower, Alien news

I do not intend for this to become a news blog with all the latest updates about what's happening in the film world. There are enough websites that excel at breaking news (www.aintitcool.com; www.darkhorizons.com; www.moviecitynews.com). What I will do, on occasion, is highlight some cinematic developments that are of great interest to me personally.

The first story I'd like to mention is the casting of the lead in Ron Howard's adaptation of Stephen King's epic "The Dark Tower". (Yes, Howard is a strange choice for director considering the material.) Earlier this week many sites reported that Christian Bale had been cast as Roland Deschain. Hours later, another story broke that Javier Bardem, Oscar winner for "No Country for Old Men" and currently nominated for "Biutiful", had been officially approached to play the character. I'm interested in how this will play out, since Bale would be a decidely commercial decision based on his association with the hyper successful Batman franchise. I'd be more comfortable with the less conventional and artistically brave Bardem as Deschain. (I hereby choose to ignore his involvement in the misguided adaptation of "Love in a Time of Cholera".)

The second story has to do with one of my favourite franchises, the "Alien" movies. The first film, simply titled "Alien" (1979), was an innovative if not wholly original SF horror directed by Ridley Scott ("Gladiator", "Kingdom of Heaven") while the sequel "Aliens" (1986) remains James Cameron's best film. The two other entries, David Fincher's "Alien 3" (1992) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Alien Resurrection" (1997) do not live up to the standards of the first two but are more than worth a watch, even as curiosities of the genre. Since last year there've been rumours about another "Alien" film, a prequel, again directed by Ridley Scott (who has hopefully not lost all the restraint he showed in the first film).

(Image from www.denofgeek.com)

At this stage, it seems as if the prequel, tentatively titled "Prometheus", won't actually be a direct prequel to "Alien", but rather a separate story set in the same universe inhabited by the xenomorphs. The film is set to star Noomi Rapace (aka Lisbeth Salander) and possibly Michael Fassbender (who is not listed as a cast member on the IMDb). Here's hoping that the film will not suffer the fate of "Predators"; but then, the "Predator" franchise as a whole has been quite inferior to the "Alien" films in terms of narrative and conception.

Another reason to check out the "Alien" films - or to revisit them - is to experience HR Giger's legendary designs. Giger is reported to be on board for "Prometheus" as well. Check out some of his work at www.hrgiger.com.

Revisit the Nostromo with this atmospheric original trailer:

All roads

The HBO-BBC co-production “Rome” (Season 1), with solid Ciaran Hinds as Julius Caesar and Kevin McKidd as Lucius Vorenus, paints a vivid if sensational portrait of life in Rome at the time of Caesar’s rise to power. The 12-episode first season uses actual sets and CGI to bring the ancient city to life. But the characters, not the look of the show, is what made me watch this: the chance to see Caesar, Brutus, Mark Anthony, Pompey Magnus, Cato, Cicero and other key figures from Roman history orate, plan, deceive and die. Those figures are all part of the Roman elite, so the show gives us two plebs, soldiers Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, who have their own narrative line that inevitably crosses with other characters’. There are historical records indicating the existence of an actual Vorenus and Pullo, but the characters in the show are pure studio fictions, forcing the men into a ‘buddy-movie’ hate-him-but-he’s-my-brother type of relationship. Indeed, it is unfortunate that many of the secondary characters are rather wooden and underwritten (as is the case with Mark Anthony – apparently, he gets his due in the second season).

With full frontal male and female nudity, a dash of lesbianism and plenty of graphic violence, this is far from the superior, civilised empire often taught in history lessons. This dirty, messy TV “Rome” is an Empire for the masses. Lavish and fast paced, it requires less patience than the superior “Deadwood” and more tolerance, from a critical perspective, of its emphasis on spectacle. All said and done, I cannot wait to get my hands on the second (and final; the show was ultimately too expensive to produce) season.

DVD extra features include episode commentaries; a shot-by-shot approach to two key scenes of the first season; and “All Roads Lead to Rome”, where, when activated, text boxes appear as an episode unfolds to clarify and elaborate upon religious, social, cultural and political life as lived in ancient Rome.

For interesting trivia about the show (spoiler warning), visit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384766/trivia.