The Reckoning

Both Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe consistently make quality, often surprising choices, whether they pick "art films" or big, commercial Hollywood films like Firewall and Spider-Man as projects. The Reckoning is no exception. This "medieval thriller" is unusual in many respects, all of them good, and although "thriller" is apt in a way, the focus here is as much on cultural changes in the immediate pre-Renaissance era. Bettany plays Nicholas, a priest who has committed questionable crimes and who has subsequently fled his home and at least outwardly abandoned his calling as he quests for repentance. He meets up with a traveling band of actors whose master player has just died. Martin (Dafoe), the previous master player's son, has inherited the title. Because a bridge is out, they have to take a different path than they intended, and they happen upon a feudal village where a woman has just been convicted of murdering a young boy. Various complications arise, and The Reckoning becomes a quest to solve a series of crimes. At the same time, Nicholas continues on his goal of repentance and we see the beginnings of a cultural clash between progressive, Renaissance-like ideas and the more traditional religious and feudal society. These clashes are even represented within the acting troupe, among different members, and as a struggle within Nicholas. The period/costume drama production design is handled beautifully. Novelist Barry Unsworth and the filmmakers seem to have done a lot of research towards getting various facets of daily life correct for the era. The story is handled very smoothly, and it is complex enough that it could have easily turned into a mess. The settings are gorgeous to look at--much of the film was shot on location in Spain and the UK. And Paul McGuigan's direction and the cast's performances are excellent. Period/costume drama is still a genre that I sometimes have difficulty "sinking into" as a viewer--too often there's kind of a pretentious "this is fine/high drama" vibe given off by those films--but that's not at all a problem here. The Reckoning provides a very nice mixture of themes and moods in a very well made, engaging film.

I don't know what to mention first, the acting, music score, the costumes, the pace, the dialogue, direction, the plot, the cinematography. I am in awe. I can only imagine how it must have felt to have been involved in the making of this true work of art. It's a privilege to watch it. Every beat, every glimpse and especially the Orchestral background music which enhances and potentiates the other artistic elements. This is a play to be considered a classic and one to study for many, many years to come. From the 1300's the evolution of the play from Bible stories to drama which depict or portray real life and human characteristics and foibles, this is not only a morality play but a portrait of the evolution and art of drama. This play also demonstrates the power of the people of a place to change the status quo. The power in the end lies not with evil but in Truth. And, by the way while I'm on the subject? I'm totally flabbergasted and ashamed of the designation of R rating for this true work of art. This huge mistake just shows that as a people, we, in the USA feel that it's better to have our children watch violence and bloodshed, but true human portrayals which may include some minor sex is off limits. This masterpiece which contains true Good, Christian and other Religious Good Values we have rated "R". Good job.

The Spanish title for The Reckoning was "El Misterio de Wells" (The Mystery Of Wells), and yeah, there's a little mystery in the plot of The Reckoning, but when it comes the time in which it's revealed you won't give a damn about it, 'cause you'll have been yawning for an hour and a half. Set in the Middle Ages, The Reckoning shows us the story of a priest (Paul Bettany) that runs away from some crime he's committed and joins a poor and decadent traveling theater company (commanded by Willem Dafoe). The company will get to a little village in which a murder have been committed and it looks that they've picked a deaf-dumb woman (Elvira Mínguez) as a scapegoat. The runaway priest will try to prove the innocence of that woman. OK, don't build up your hopes yet. The movie is slow, linear, boring, rhythm-less, etc. They have made a nice job with the locations, the props, and the wardrobe; also they've recruited an outstanding cast (Bettany, Dafoe, Cox, Minguez, Cassel, Cosmo... -I wonder what are they doing here-), but they hadn't a good story to tell (maybe the novel was good, but it hasn't worked in the big screen). PS: what to say about those pseudo-existentialist dialogs over god, and devil by the end of the movie?. Jeeesus... PS2: I DEFINITELY HAVE to quit on watching this kind of movies. My rate: 3.5/10

Everything in the setting and art direction of this nicely done dramatic mystery is of Academy Award caliber, so why was it not nominated? It should have been. The plot is simple but handled in a most perceptive and well-conceived manner, and makes for a riveting tale, with superb performances by nearly everyone involved. A murder mystery set in the 13th century in England, of course with the dangerous politics of aristocracy as fodder. The fault of this film is in the portrayal of the villain, who is lacking in development and nothing more than a one-dimensional Simon Legree. One fully expects him to pull his mustache and cackle. His eventual downfall is welcome, but handled in way that just seems unrealistic for the times. Here is a fellow who is suspected of planning a revolt against the King of England, yet he only has about 6 knights in his stable when push comes to shove? What? Then the angry villagers burn down the gigantic castle, which was the size of about the rest of the town. Right, they'd prefer to just burn it down rather than use it. Other than that, a great film.

This movie certainly isn't for everybody. It's a dark, rough-hewn art house style movie with virtually zero action. If you're looking for cheap thrills, big battles, and steamy romance, look elsewhere. It's a small budget, small scale medieval movie, without the best of direction. Some scenes seem unnecessary, the pacing is a little off, and the budget rears it's ugly head quite obviously in a few spots, especially near the end. All told though this movie delivers quite a bang. The actors all give solid performances, with a lot of emotion. The visuals are stunning, with colors that reinforce the mood at every turn. The suspense, and raw emotion of the film has a killing power. The dialog has several pointed references to modern times, which I found to be delightful. Apparently this is not to everyone's taste though. Many people are likely to compare this to "The Name of the Rose." The plot and mood have strong similarities, and the medieval realism shines through equally well in both, but "The Reconing" seems to be faster paced, and the actors have a humility that is refreshing. In my mind, this movie is a real gem, an unpolished beauty. I'm sad for the people that made the movie, because without advertisement, it was sheer luck that I even found it. However, I'm happy for myself that it didn't get that treatment, because it let me buy the movie for cheap, and I definitely got the better end of the bargain. If you can find it, grab it up! Good medieval movies are hard to come by, and this should be one of the best.

In 1380, in England, after committing two capital sins, the priest Nicholas (Paul Bettany) leaves the habit and joins a troupe of players leaded by Martin (Willen Dafoe). The group arrives in a small village in the lands of Lord De Guise (Vincent Cassel), where a boy has been recently murdered. Martin convinces the players to perform the crime on the stage, and Nicholas finds the hidden truth about the mysterious death. A couple of days ago I saw the trailer of "The Reckoning", I liked and I decided to see this movie. What a great surprise! The riveting story is very well directed and acted, with another spectacular performance of this great actor Paul Bettany; has an original screenplay, with a dramatic full of mystery story and excellent lines and dialogs. I particularly liked the definition of the cynical Lord De Guise, something like "that between faith and reason lays the true God: power". There is a great mistake about 96 minutes, when Lord De Guise is discussing with Nicholas, and his lips are not moving in a certain shot. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Um Crime de Paixão" ("A Crime of Passion")

The Reckoning is only a moderately satisfying film. I enjoyed the Middle-Ages scenario and the design of the film was suitably primitive. As far as its being a murder mystery, though, I'm afraid it telegraphs its moves, leaving not much to the imagination. And while it's wonderful to see such a good ensemble of actors, they certainly did their share of carpet chewing. Paul Bettany's share of the carpet chewing, however, left me disappointed. Frankly, I don't think Bettany is heavyweight enough to be the main protagonist in this sort of film, and after seeing his wonderful performance in A Knight's Tale - especially his great comedic speech at the joust - I was somewhat disappointed to see him do a reprise of the same type of speech - though not comedic - at one point in The Reckoning. In short, Bettany's persona as a leading-man falls short of his talents as a supporting actor. He certainly can't be regarded as being on the same level as his co-star Willem Defoe, and he'd even be hard pressed to match the performance of supporting players the caliber of Brian Cox. Sorry, but good actor though he is, Bettany lacks charisma. Nevertheless, I'd like to have him to prove me wrong. In any event, go see this film. It's certainly better than 95% of the rest of the movies out there.

I suppose there is an audience for a movie like this in an age when educated people boldly deny evolution as a valid scientific theory in favor of Biblical creationism. However, I cringed throughout. The vastness of wasted talent in this movie is the only impressive thing about it. All of them stumbling through its muddled morality mush of pseudo-Christian, homophobic, anarchical nonsense, set in a Medieval period which could not have possibly hosted these events. It would have been more believable if it had been staged on a distant planet with old Star Trek TV sets. Paul Bettany manages to escape with a small amount of dignity by delivering his corny speeches with Shakespearean zeal and by dying quite well. Vincent Cassel has no aptitude as a 1950s-style homosexual villain. It seemed his heart just wasn't in it to his credit. Another turkey that somehow got off the ground in a world where many swans never get their wings.

Director Paul McGuigan gathers a team of excellent actors in this medieval mystery drama. This is not an easy genre, although there are excellent books to start from and at least one film to remember, 'The Name of the Rose' that was a great success a couple of decades ago. In 'Reckoning' the staging of the action is very good, the characters are strong and credible, and the atmosphere of the time - 14th century England - makes it to the screen. The story of an ex-priest joining a group of actors who get involved in a crime and wrong justice story in a village they perform is quite interesting, at least at the beginning. Paul Bettamy and William Defoe give good performances, and the rest of the team is not far behind. The problem is with the story - it starts well leading to a theater in movie scene which is the key of the whole movie. The mistake in the script is that this scene comes too early, and the rest of the story is too easy to predict and not interesting enough. I lost interest in the second half, and it looked like the director also ran out of ideas, most of the best visuals are in the first half, the second just repeats what we saw in the first and in many other films. Overall a movie above average, 7 out of 10 on my personal scale.

I really like Paul Bettany and Dafoe is either wonderful or awful depending on the role, but always worth watching. I also think Barry Unsworth, author of the book on which this film was based, is a superb writer. So when I came across this movie, I was anxious to see it, and in some ways it did not disappoint. It was well acted. Paul and Dafoe were both good, and the supporting players were convincing. The script was weak, however. The villain was so heinous he was almost a cartoon and the motives of our hero (Bettany's character) we muddled at best. And although the villagers certainly looked like I would imagine 14th century serfs would look, they seemed to have enough leisure time to worry about social injustice and working together for a better life (when they were not searching for roots and twigs, no doubt). It would have been a far more interesting movie if it had concerned itself with the trials and travails of the traveling players instead of trying to be an action/suspense film.