Alatriste

[Percy_of_Nackington]

Hi All

just finished watching Alatriste which I really enjoyed and was wondering what others thought of it, especially regarding costume,kit and the Battle of Rocroi at the end.

Mick

[steve stanley]

Reminded me of the Lester Musketeer films,but darker......Yes,costume errors....Terrain was wrong for Rocroi & (as always) numbers too small...But a real joy to watch a half-way decent depiction of pike fighting

[Percy_of_Nackington]

hi Steve

I thought the same thing about the terrain, the Ardennes were looking a bit parched ( must have been a very dry spring). I was quite impressed with the depiction of the pike block taking casualties from the artillery fire and that line of French pike advancing would have been a scary sight seeing it for real

[steve stanley]

Final score:...9/10 for effort,7/10 for content !

[Phil the Grips]

They ran out of cash halfway through production and Mr Mortensen paid for it to be finished himself hence the rapid drop in quality and numbers at the end.

I'm still not sure why they decided to do every book in the one film- somewhat like trying to do every Sharpe book in a couple of hours- leading to the weird "scenes form the books" feel of the film rather than a single, coherent story. However it is very pretty and well worth watching, especially the scenes with the pistoliers.

Alberto Bomprezzi was a consultant for the fencing, being an expert in the Spanish Vulgate style, which is why the fight scenes look rather good.

[steve stanley]

And they didn't age very well over 15 years..........Still wearing the same fashions!

[Captain Reech]

Final score:...9/10 for effort,7/10 for content !

Based on the scores given to most films with historical content/setting that get reviewed on here that's almost a "Don't miss"!

[Percy_of_Nackington]

whilst on the subject of the battle of Rocroi this amazing painting appeared on the facebook page for the 30 years war events group a few days ago, its by the spanish artist Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto. If you visit his face book page he has other paintings on there, lots of 30 years war stuff

Mick

[Percy_of_Nackington]

For those who may not have seen the film here's a wee clip of the battle scene, courtesy of you tube (quality is not brill but hayho)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... QDZKP-pmE#!