Shadows on the Wall

Medieval

dir-scr Petr Jakl
prd Petr Jakl, Cassian Elwes
with Ben Foster, Sophie Lowe, Michael Caine, Til Schweiger, Matthew Goode, William Moseley, Roland Moller, Karel Roden, Jennifer Armour, Werner Daehn, Vinzenz Kiefer, Alistair Brammer
release US 9.Sep.22,
UK 28.Oct.22
22/Czechia 1h06

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This lavishly produced 15th century epic establishes its grisly aesthetic early, as men brutally battle with swords, spears, arrows, axes and maces. This is a full-blooded take on the true story of a legendary Czech folk hero, and writer-director Petr Jakl infuses it with plenty of entertaining myth-making. While the action is visceral and often thrilling, the more personal touches make the movie much more enjoyable than expected.

In 1402 Europe is in turmoil, as rival popes try to control the continent. Ace tactician Jan Zizka (Foster) is hired by Lord Boresh (Caine) to kidnap Lady Katherine (Lowe) as part of a power play between King Wenceslas IV (Roden) of Bohemia, his scheming brother King Sigismund (Goode) of Hungary and rival nobleman Rosenberg (Schweiger), Katherine's fiance. Aided by local peasants, Jan opens Katherine's eyes to Rosenberg's vile ways. Meanwhile, Sigismund dispatches his murderous goon Torak (Moller) to get Katherine for himself. And all of this bloodshed will determine who becomes Holy Roman Emperor.

Growling and posturing feature in each scene, as these resolutely tough men continually threaten each other. Even quiet conversations bristle with churning menace, so a gruesome killing is never far away. The fights, assaults and ambushes are ambitiously staged with lots of surprises, and the relentless grey gloominess is brightened up with some spectacular scenery and liberal splashes of blood. So when you see an angry lion in a cage, you know it's only a matter of time until someone loses a limb. For starters.

Foster has terrific presence as the relentlessly stalwart Jan, both in quiet moments and in frenzied action, even as such obvious heroism makes the role feel thin. Lowe manages to bring some sparky intelligence to a role that's little more than a pawn in a bigger game. The superb Moller is thunderously barbaric, simply because the movie needs someone like this. And the backroom plotting is given steely gravitas by the gifted likes of Caine, Schweiger, Goode and Roden, who create distinctive variations on a nasty power-hungry theme.

Amid the carnage, there are plenty of nods to deeper themes, most notably in the religious and political chaos that reveals the hypocrisy in the motives of the most powerful. In addition, the cosseted Katherine discovers that common people are more worthy than the aristocracy she was born into. But the movie is mainly about the spectacle, leaping from one thumping set-piece to the next as major characters die in noble or ignoble ways. It's a riveting depiction of a barbaric period in history.

themes, language, violence 27.Oct.22

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