Four Warriors (2015)

Three crusaders and their prisoner trek through Europe on the way home.  Richard (Christopher Dane) is the leader, William and Hamish his allies, and Khushtar the Saracen prisoner.  Why are they taking Khushtar to England?  He's used as a pack animal.  One day, they came upon a village populated only by women and a single child.  The women say that creatures have stolen the men and children.  Richard concluded it was likely slavers.  He deigns to remain a couple of days to scare off the slavers, but soon discovers that something dark is in the woods.  The old woman says only the Four Warriors can save them now.  She indicates Richard, William, Hamish, and Khushtar!

A low budget fantasy movie, it rises to the level of mediocre.  Of course, the hero is a man who has renounced God and views the crusades as wrong.  Yes, let's get that anti-Crusades propaganda in the film.  No need to talk about how Muslims conquered Christian lands from the Middle East, Northern Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, and still pressed against Byzantium.  Nope.  Crusaders were in the wrong.  Hey, they've even enslaved the unfortunate Khushtar and use him as a mule.  By contrast, Khushtar proves to be completely honorable and trustworthy.  Heck, he even heals the worst of the crusaders, William.

The choreography is poor.  Despite waves of black-clad villains with 'scary' masks, our heroes stand toe to toe against them, neither getting killed nor killing.  Yes, it is like the A-Team where the fights result in no injuries, but the villains eventually run away.

Adding another modern message, Richard gets together with Alina, the single mom.  Well, that was common in the era as mortality was high.  Not in her case.  She explained to Richard that she met a Crusader who was on his way to the Holy Land some years ago and that she had a son with him.  Oh, so a random guy was passing through.  How did Alina get to be the leader of this village with that in her background?  This is the Middle Ages.

Hard pass.

Warlord (2025)

The city of Lloris was built and ruled by elves for millennia.  Then the humans came to trade.  Then they settled.  Finally, they moved against the elves and forced them from their ancient city.  Today, the elves are viewed as legend, not seen in two centuries.

Elwynn Brokenleaf (Stuart Brennan) and Tyfell Fallenoak (Richard Goss) are wood elves out on a hunt.  While ranging near the ancient city, they spot a naked human flee through the woods.  The man, Cameron, is brought down by other humans.  The humans castrate him, apply hot tar, and then a basket of feathers.  They leave him to die.  Tyfell left an apple at the man's side though Elwynn thought it a waste.

Lloris is now ruled by the sheriff (Billy Boyd) and his yellow-clad goon squad.  Each day, taxes are raised, putting out business after business.  The castrated man had been a baker who could not pay the tax; the punishment was extreme.  Emily (Aliona Baranova) is something of a leader among the people, aiding other bakers in paying the taxes.  Cameron has slipped back into town and tells his tale of elves and apples.  Emily takes the apple and has a grand plan.

Emily's parents had ruled the city before the sheriff came.  She was too young to know how the sheriff replaced her parents.  However, her parents had a fondness for elf things - like goblets - and knew some elf lore.  One thing Emily remembered was how to summon elves:

As once we were lost, together we may be found, let us come to speak and find common ground

She spoke the words at the foot of a great tree in the woods with the elfin apple as a focus.  Sure enough, an elf appeared.  Llanofinn Brokenleaf (Jennifer English) was not happy to talk to a human and had little sympathy for her plight.  Nonetheless, she agreed to consult with the elves and give an answer about aiding against the tyrannical sheriff.

The characters are mostly bland.  Billy Boyd doesn't sell himself as a villain.  Sure, he delivers bad guy lines, but has the face of a friendly hobbit.  Stuart is flat as Elwynn, which kind of works but also makes him boring.  He offers all sorts of sage wisdom to the young Tyfell and takes everything at a slow walk.  Emily is explained backwards.  Her oddly high status among the bakers is not explained until we learn of her origins.  Her friend Sam likewise gets major character development in the climax.  These revelations should not be surprises, since all the citizens know them and only the viewer is left in the dark.

The story progresses at a snail's pace and there is very little action.  When there is action, it is typically a case where the elf fires the bow then we cut to see a man with an arrow in him.  Same goes for sword cuts.  Slash with sword, cut to man with bloody gash.  When the elvish sword dancer arrives, she spins in close up.  No choreography at all.  Despite being set in a fantasy setting, there was very little action.  It is very talky.  So much dialogue.

The movie ends with a massive plot twist, a flipping of the table and a backstab extraordinaire.  The twist does not end the story but demands more story that does not come.  Nope, movie over.  Was this made with a sequel in mind?

Slow and plodding.  Skip.

A Knight's War (2025)

Bhodie (Jeremy Ninaber) woke from a nightmare.  He saw a woman and her red-haired daughter burned at the stake.  He himself arrived in the aftermath.  While the mother had been burned to death, the daughter was unharmed; she was fireproof.  When he reached out to the daughter, she attacked him, which was when he awoke.  Bhodie's brother, William (Matthew Ninaber), asked about the nightmare and was unsurprised when his brother lied.  The two men were knights on a quest.  They sought to fulfill the prophecy that foretold of a Chosen One, red-headed woman, who would bring the light (in a divine sense) back to the realm.  They arrived at a dark tower where a dark ritual was being performed.  They sneaked into the fortress in exactly the way plate mail-clad paladins would not.  Soon, the battle raged as the brothers fought cultists and sought to save the red-haired woman about to be sacrificed to darkness.  And failed.  There was only one chance.  William stabbed Bhodie with the sacrificial blade and dumped him into the pool of blood, same as the redhead.

Bhodie awoke in a dark realm where he met the Gatekeeper (Shane Nicely).  The Gatekeeper explained that there was only one to escape: he must capture three stones from three guardians.  The keeper offered a deal: allow the keeper to accompany him out of this hell, in exchange for an amulet that would allow Bhodie to respawn.  Bhodie accepted and immediately encountered Avalon (Kristen Kaster), the redhead who had been sacrificed; Bhodie recognized her as the daughter from his nightmare.  She did not act nobly and denied the light.  How could she be the Chosen One?  Despite his growing doubts, Bhodie joined forces with Avalon to secure the three stones and thereby bring light back to the world.

The movie is dark and moody.  There is virtually no levity to break the oppressive doom.  The funniest bits are when Bhodie keeps dying when fighting the witches.  Not really funny, just mildly amusing as a gaming trope.  Kind of reminds you of Groundhog Day when Phil had the montage of suicides.  The fight choreography is generally good.  The costumes are quite good, though colorless.  Most of the characters are dressed in dark colors that add to the gloomy color palette of the cinematography.  As for the three guardians, the first proves to be the biggest challenge, which is weird.  Indeed, the next two were relatively easy.  Psychological battles rather than physical ones.  Meh.

Just okay.

Beowulf & Grendel (2005)

A troll and his son were enjoying the outdoors when suddenly a band of riders appeared.  The troll scooped up his son and raced toward the shore.  It was a cliff far above the sea; there was no escape.  He hid his son on a ledge and turned to face the Danes.  Spears, arrows, and fire forced him over the cliff to his death.  Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgard) looked over the ledge to the dead troll but spotted the child.  What to do?  He left the child and rode away with the others.  Nearly 20 years later, the young troll, Grendel, attacked Hrothgar's newly built hall.  Though Hrothgar himself tried to fight the troll, it ignored him; it only killed his men, specifically Danes.

Over the sea in Geatland, Beowulf (Gerald Butler) and his friends discussed the good times in Geatland.  With all well in the lands, the king agreed that Beowulf and his men should aid Hrothgar in his time of need.  Though Beowulf repeatedly sought battle with the troll, it refused to fight him or his men.  He had given in no reason to kill him.  Hrothgar had not revealed his history with the troll's father.  Beowulf consulted a witch, Selma (Sarah Polley), to discover how to fight the troll.  Eventually, he and his men provide a reason for the troll to kill them.

The movie does a good job with the setting.  The gear, ships, armor, clothing, buildings, and such fit in the early 6th century.  However, the geography is wrong for Denmark.  It is far too rugged and craggy; it was filmed in Iceland.  Though Beowulf has plenty of ego, this version of him also has humility.  He's not nearly the boaster like Ray Winstone's Beowulf (2007).  However, his reputation precedes him wherever he goes.  Even when he is washed ashore near a humble fisherman's wharf, the fisherman knew the tales of Beowulf.

The story is faithful to the source material, but adds a lot too.  After Grendel has died, there follows a battled with Grendel's mother.  She had been shown as an eventual foe when they sailed; her pale white hand would grab men near the rail and try to drag them into the sea.  In the poem, the death of Grendel's mother concluded the troubles.  It does here too, but there are loose ends.  Grendel had a son himself and Beowulf - like Hrothgar before him - was unable to kill the child.  Will a new vengeance cycle start in another decade or so?

It is strange to embrace trolls and sea hags but then have no magic.  The witch says she can foretell death, which appears true.  Was the sword that Beowulf grabbed from her stash a magic one, thus being able to kill the sea hag?  Maybe.  That there was mention of Clovis (466-511) and the presence of Father Brendan (Eddie Marsan) put it firmly in the historical setting, rather than mythical.

Just okay.