Explosive
Summary
If Edge of Tomorrow had knights, demons, and witches in it, it would resemble the very earnestly produced A Knight’s War. While it uses that concept as merely a starting point, the film has its own identity, and the conceptual and production designs are all very vivid and sometimes horrifying. If you missed it in its very brief theatrical release, this is a great way to watch the movie. This is an affordably priced gem, and welcome in a fantasy fan’s hard copy media collection.
Plot: A knight is tasked with rescuing a woman who might be the catalyst for the fulfillment of a prophecy.
Review: A prophecy has been circulating for some time of a red-haired female that will usher in an new age for the world – good or bad remains to be seen – and so those fearful men who have positions of power have been searching for such a girl … and destroy anyone who matches the description. When a wandering “knight of the light in the realm of the fallen” named Bhodie (Jeremy Ninaber) is summoned by his brother William (this film’s writer / director Matthew Ninaber) to help him invade a fortress to rescue a red-haired young woman from being sacrificed by an evil cult, Bhodie is plunged into another dimension where he teeters between life and death. A demon makes a deal with him: Bhodie will have the power to die a hundred times (more or less) and come back to life with the help of a talisman, but he must defeat several titan-type enemies in the process, and when he’s done, he must give the demon passage to the world of the living. With the red-haired young woman (played by Kristen Kaster) fighting by his side, Bhodie will die over and over again, but each time he gets a little better at learning his enemies’ weaknesses. Whether or not the woman is indeed the prophesied person remains to be seen, but sometimes a knight really needs to decide if the prophesy is false … or if he should will the prophecy into being by fighting with everything he’s got to give.
If Edge of Tomorrow had knights, demons, and witches in it, it would resemble the very earnestly produced A Knight’s War. While it uses that concept as merely a starting point, the film has its own identity, and the conceptual and production designs are all very vivid and sometimes horrifying. The violence and gore when it comes is thick and strong, but the film has some momentum problems and sags a bit, despite how impressive the overall movie ends up being. The indoor sets are straight out of a Frazetta painting, and the outdoor sequences are equally eye-opening. Matthew Ninaber is best known for his creature / monster work in Psycho Goreman, Death Valley, and In a Violent Nature. His work here indicates a heart and soul for dark fantasy, and I want more.
Dread / Epic have just issued a Blu-ray for A Knight’s War, and it comes with a director’s commentary, a behind the scenes feature, and a proof of concept. If you missed it in its very brief theatrical release, this is a great way to watch the movie. This is an affordably priced gem, and welcome in a fantasy fan’s hard copy media collection.