The Gist:
Three warriors (and their prisoner of war) travel home after the crusades, only to happen upon a village beset by demons who have stolen away the children and menfolk.
The Review:
One of the decisions you have to make when making a film that takes place in another era is how faithfully you want to adhere to the values of the time. That is something that The Four Warriors does get right; our protagonists are relatable enough that they’re fairly likable but they’ve also taken a prisoner of war with them as a slave to carry stuff. The contrast avoids making the characters feel like they’re modern day people plonked down in another era. The quality of the acting is also generally good and never dips below acceptable.
I felt I should start with the positive stuff because it’s mostly downhill from here.
The biggest weakness of the film is that the plot and characters aren’t inspired at all. I accused ‘The Cobblestone Corridor’ of not trying anything new, but The Four Warriors puts this into perspective. ‘Corridor’ executes things inventively within the established framework of the genre. ‘Warriors’, on the other hand, is what you get when you upend a bag of fantasy tropes and character archetypes on a storyboard and call it a day. You have Richard the world weary, but still good at heart, warrior; William, the self-centred, but ultimately good, man. Or Kushtar, the foreign character with knowledge of special medicines.
Then there’s the village wise woman who exists purely to give a prophecy about the four warriors who will save the village. This, in particular, is a point of irritation for me because prophecies of heroes should not be part of a narrative unless they either have a serious impact on the plot, or they have a decent twist. ‘Warriors’ fails on both accounts; the plot would have worked out the same way if they’d been asked to help simply because they were experienced warriors. And while there are several attempts to make a decent prophecy twist, only Alina (one of the village women) becoming one of the four warriors comes close. Sadly, this appears to have been included largely to justify her becoming Richard’s love interest at the end, so no points there.
The Verdict:
The Four Warriors is an earnest and competent effort that is let down by a lack of any real creativity. I wasn’t bored by the end of it, but I wasn’t hugely eager to watch it again. There’s some decent character interaction dotted about but, unless this is the first piece of fiction you’ve ever encountered, it’s nothing ground breaking.
Certificate: TBC
Director: Phil Hawkins
Starring: Christopher Dane, Hadrian Howard, Fergal Philips, Alex Childs, Kristian Nairn and Jessica Blake.
Running Time: 92 min
Release Date: 13 July 2015
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