MovieChat Forums > Arn: Tempelriddaren (2007) Discussion > Major dissapointment..

Major dissapointment..

posted 16 years ago by thunderztorm
9 replies | jump to latest

Just saw it in the cinema, and I had to hold myself back from yelling at the screen in there..

Considering it's a film-version of a book trilogy, it more or less seems to ignore the source material completely.
There's simply way too much missing in this movie compared to the books.

As a stand-alone film, it's not very interesting - There's too many films out there that do the same as Arn, and do it better. Kingdom of Heaven being one of them.

Arn had so much potential so it's a damn shame that 80% of it is wasted.

Removing any reference to politics both in Sweden and in the Holy Land is basically the same as removing any reference to the One Ring in Lord of the Rings - Guillou's books are about the politics with Arn/Cecilia put in to give some main characters to root for.

On the bright side:
Some good acting (Especially Rikissa)
Some decent fighting scenes - at least they didn't look like live-roleplaying

This should've been made into a drama trilogy, not a lovestory/action double-movie..

[–] furienna 16 years ago

Nah, I think it's a good movie. I don't know what you expected, but considering that they basically made one movie out of two books, it's a very good job.

Yes, it's true! IMDB has reached Sweden!

[–] flork 16 years ago

considering that they basically made one movie out of two books, it's a very good job

Considering they made a crappy decision that left the director an impossible task, then yes it was a good job.

The result however is that "Kingdom of Heaven" actually is a closer adaption of the book "Tempelriddaren" than the movie "Tempelriddaren" is!! :(

[–] furienna 16 years ago

Not really, because half of the book wasn't about Arn as a knights templar in the holy land, but about Cecilia as a prisoner in the nunneries back in Gothia. So there were basically two stories to be told in this movie, which made it impossible to just focus on things happening in the holy land, like "Kingdom of Heaven" did.

But yeah, they could have made one movie for each one of the books, like they did with "Lord of the rings". That would of course have costed more money, but they would make more money too, so what the heck...

Yes, it's true! IMDB has reached Sweden!

[–] fiddesixtensson 16 years ago

I think most movies that are adaptations of books do wrong by NOT changing much in the books. I think that most fans of the books think of it as slaughtering a holy cow, which is a valid point, but as somewhat of a movie enthusiast (though in no way a guru or a master cineast) I think that movies and books are entirely different mediums and movies that are direct translations of books seem to fail a lot. Books can explain a lot to the reader out of character where movies really can't in the same way...

There are of course great movies based on books (The Godfather, 2001: A Space odyssey, The Shining etc) but they tend to be kind of liberal with the source, trying to recreate a director's vision of a movie rather than an author's vision of a movie, which is good. Another thing I've sensed (not a hundred percent sure about this, but I sense) is that most good book-movies tend to be based not on great, nobel prize-nominated books, but more like underground books.

I'm neither a book guru nor Roger Ebert, so I might be very wrong. Anyway, This movie gets 1,5 or 2 out of 5 from me.

[–] Strausszek 16 years ago

I wasn't expecting The Merchant of Venice (the Pacino/Irons version) or Andrey Rublyov when it comes to catching the atmosphere of the Middle Ages (in Venice, 16th century, but it's the aproach I'm after) or creating stunning and innovative visuals, but the movie is amazingly packed with cliches of medieval lifestyle and thinking. The fatalism with which Arn's mother (an aristocrat woman!) entrusts her son to God when he's fallen from the roof, and then drives her wish through; the duel at which Arn fights without a shield or even any armour (in real life, he would have been given the time to put on some kind of mailshirt or brestplate), the overemphasized national power of the King. And the whipping scene - priceless! I really don't think a nun, if asked to punish a new-arrived sister, would act with that much brute sadistic force...

It's fun to watch in an unpretentious way but it looks old-fashioned, and they absolutely don't think or speak like medieval people would have done. It also seems too closely bound to the books, but given their big readership in Sweden that was probably inevitable.

[–] bellis-2 16 years ago

totally agree. it made me so sad. :(

[–] Strausszek 16 years ago

The stiff voice-over reading in the early part also makes it feel old-fashioned. When did you last see a major movie, excepting kids' flicks, with a storyteller's voice? That ran out of date fifty years ago!

[–] oscarsjocrona 16 years ago

The books were crap to begin with.

[–] elmo_komulainen 16 years ago

Every time a book is turned in to a movie ppl shout that it sucks cause it's missing stuff from the book. You should try seeing the movie as a movie , not a book turned in to a movie. With out reading the books i can say that this movie was entertaining, and given the storyline I wouldn't have done anything differently since the emphasis was on the love story and not the politics / battles.