Tweet
Released By: Well Go USA
Released On: July 7, 2015
Director: Jim Weedon
Cast:Ed Skrein, Karel Roden, Stanley Weber, Dave Legeno
Year: 2015
The Film:
In 1066 AD, following the Battle of Hastings, an event known as "The Harrowing" occurred; in which William The Conqueror sent his armies to the North of England to clean up a few loose ends. Led by William's warlord, Earl Durant, those loose ends were taken care of, resulting in over 100,000 Saxons being slain. Durant stuck around following the carnage and set up shop with his sons Artus and Romain, ensuring that the Saxons left alive would live out the rest of their lives in fear.
Or at least they would have, if a mysterious stranger hadn't appeared to teach Durant and his sons a thing or two about terror. Opting to slaughter Durant's troops rather than pay the toll to travel on their roads, the "Shadow Walker" draws the attention of Lords Artus and Romain, who are minding the area while their father is out on business. While one would think that the fearful Saxons living in the woods would be pleased with the interloper, they show their appreciation by beating and imprisoning him when they find him eating their soup. But when the stranger escapes from his bonds while Romain and his soldiers attack the settlement, and then takes it to the next level by making Romain cut out his own eye to escape with his life, he forms a bond with the Saxons, who are convinced that he can help them end the tyranny of the Durant family.
However, the Durants didn't become notorious by baking tasty loaves of bread, and Artus arrives with his men to burn the settlement to the ground. The stranger proves his worth in battle, though, and Artus is captured by the Saxons. Romain rides into the settlement to try and free his brother and is killed by the stranger, which (obviously) pisses off Durant, who has returned from his travels. It's rags against riches when he unleashes the Berserkers, bone and armour attired bloodthirsty warriors who hunger for Saxon flesh, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how things are going to end.
Sword of Vengeance is, to put it quite it bluntly, a terrible film. Infuriating, in fact. While the first fifteen minutes or so can safely be put down as "uneventful", it segues quickly into "goddamn annoying" with ridiculous overuse of slow-motion and frequency sweep sound effects that are injected into the film for no apparent reason. It's hard to emphasize how much slow-motion there is in the film; it's safe to say that you can not watch more than 30 seconds without another drawn out sequence. With an already truncated running time of under 90 minutes, the length of actual film presented is probably closer to 42 minutes. Regardless, even the 80-someoddminute runtime feels like three hours.
Taking that ridiculous aspect of the film away to get a clearer look at what's going on doesn't improve the situation. Although there are a few decent special effects that are on par with other action films, the look and style of Sword of Vengeance would indicate that a bunch of sticks tied together and a fog machine were all that the filmmakers thought they would require to pull it off, content to throw attention to detail to the wind and fill the rest of the screen with time-lapsed shots of weather systems and forests. The acting might be decent, but you would never know; the script contains character motivations and actions that elicit headscratching and eyebrow raising, and really, even if the acting was stellar, it wouldn't save what a horrible piece of drawn-out garbage this is.
Written by Matthew Read, who churned out the almost as annoying Hammer of the Gods, and Julian Unthank, and directed by new-to-the-game Jim Weedon, Sword of Vengeance is a film that everyone can do without.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Sword of Vengeance comes to blu-ray from Well Go USA in a 2.35:1 transfer that seems to be appropriate considering the film. There really isn't much in the way of detail to take advantage of the format or high definition here, with the majority of scenes being drab and murky. That being said, there were no visual issues noticed. The 5.1 DTS HDMA audio track makes heavy use of the surrounds and bass, with an invasive soundtrack running throughout, but dialogue seemed well balanced and audible.
Interviews with Producers Rupert Preston and Huberta Von Lee (8:03) and Director Jim Weedon (15:44) cover a wide variety of topics from the genesis of the film, to casting and shooting, and a Behind The Scenes (6:45) consists of on-set footage split into three scenes from the film.
A Trailer and Preview Reel for other Well Go titles is also included.
The Final Word:
I don't remember the last time a film pissed me off as much as Sword of Vengeance. Avoid.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
