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Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon
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Title: BLACK DEATH
Director: Christopher Smith
Year: 2010
Reviewed: May 22, 2011
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Fast Food Meal-Third Highest Rating |
[Rating Definitions]
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ALERT! SPOILER FORTHCOMING!
Sean Bean always dies.
As an actor, I have always loved Sean Bean, always believed him. There is an inherent nobility to Bean that lends its self to any character he plays, not to mention the flawed, but strong, characters he seems to currently play. This is most effective in the period pieces I see him in; namely, "Lord of the Rings", "Black Death", and "A Game of Thrones". However, Sean Bean always dies. In "Equilibrium" he never made it out of the first act, and then there is "The Fellowship of the Ring", never has so memorable of a character died so well.
Here we have "Black Death", a period piece, housed in the very gritty trappings of horror. To be quite honest, I loved it. It is simple and well done, and relatively unique. The acting is superb. The story rides the balance of is it real, or is it imagination or magic brilliantly. It is also gritty and violent and dark, making this movie a tragedy, which I ultimately love. The balance between Christianity and paganism is played out deftly and with taste, never really falling on the side of the righteous or the pagan. My only real qualm is the hackneyed clichéd manner in which, either the director or the cinematographer, decided to film the majority of the film with a shaky camera. The "shaky camera" is the last bastion of a mediocre director, a hack if you will; it has its place just as any other tool in the directors' box, but used with impunity it is simply like watching a retarded child bang away on a single key of a grand piano.
"Black Death" is wonderful. I loved it. It knows what it is, and never strays from its purpose. Therefore it gets a high FAST FOOD MEAL review.
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