Redbad was an unexpected epic on the stale state of today's cinema.
Epics are on shortage, both in quantity and quality, this one was quite above average.
Acting wise it's not bad, main character has charisma enough to carry the movie and overall not bad. If you compare it to "Vikings" seasons 4,5 and 6 (Ragnar's sons), this guy would give the main "toons" there a run for their money - at least he looks the part.
The movie, although based on the Frisian warrior, has a "Viking" feel to it, from the weapons to the costumes and art, it has a Viking theme overall.
Fights were also not bad, they had some great moments and looked realistic at least, compared to the average low budget movies out there with over the shoulder cameras and messy combat, some solid combat here with nice head to head battles.
Horses were a must, I saw a scene of a horse stumping the shield of a warrior with is feet, great action overall, but there were also some silly moments, like a shield-maiden head stumping a warrior with a helmet on.
Some plot-holes and nonsense choices around half an hour in, that made me afraid of being another silly movie, but keep the faith cause it gets better.
Negative points... a bit too long, mainly because of too many slow motion scenes that could have been cut to half (or even more) - could the series that came after (based on this movie) be the reason?
Sometimes I had the feeling if I put a heavy metal song over some slow motion scenes, you would get a quite good videoclip.
Music wise, goes from great to repetitive, during half an hour I though I was watching a Christopher Nolan Batman with repetitive rythm, not necessary at all.
Overall, a solid movie, rare this days, with quite a large cast, setup and wonderful, wonderful photography and landscape.
A bit shorter, less slow motion scenes and bit better CGI here and there, would make this a masterpiece, as it stands it's a very watchable Epic.
7 for the effort and up the rankings. A realistic 6, could be a 9 with better script and less slow motion scenes.
Review of Redbad
