Tristan & Isolde Reviews

It is probably one of the oldest stories ever conceived by humankind, it was even one of the inspirations for 'Romeo and Juliet' if I'm not mistaken, so it was just a matter of time before they made a modern adaptation (Hollywood is rather unfortunatelly infamous for its lack of confidence in new material...). Eventually, I thought it was pretty good. Indeed, the whole thing (costums, sets,...) looked really good, Kevin Reynolds provided some decent directing and managed to find the right tone for this material. Furthermore, James Franco and Sophia Myles (what happened to her?!? I'm afraid she never managed to breakthrough after this...) were both very well cast and had together some believable chemistry. Of course, the story is not really original but you shouldn't forget that this tale started ALL the romantic tales that came afterwards so I think it was a good move to keep the essence of this everlasting dramactic love tragedy. To conclude, I think it is a decent romantic tragedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

"I live in torture thinking of these moments. Every look he gives you I get sicker and sicker. There's a burning in me, I feel on fire and a guilt I can't comidify. Does it make you happy to know that?"

Typical, standard Hollywood epic is nothing more than light entertainment with some romance thrown in there.

A young orphan named Tristan (Franco) is heir to the British throne. During the period when the British were not at peace with the Irish, Tristan is wounded in battle and nursed back to health by young Irish royal Isolde (Myles). The two slowly fall in love, predictably. But their passionate romance is forbidden, and the two lovers must choose where their allegiance lies - love or honour.

Surprisingly, there are very few good things to find here. The performances are weak, but somewhat convincing. Franco wasn't given much to work with, with such a poor script. And Myles was bordering on average and poor.

The battles did look most impressive at times, but the American PG-13 rating means that the medieval violence looks tame and underwhelming. The film tries to pass itself off as another Braveheart, but the difference is that the extreme battle violence in Braveheart made the battles a lot more entertaining. Here I was just yawning.

The non-sentimental approach to the characters also means that when I saw a character being killed I couldn't tell whether they were Irish or English. And what's more - I never cared when someone was killed! Each character looks similar and is not memorable in the slightest. Apart from the two protagonists, I can't think of another character that was actually developed.

And the romance was laughable. I never cared for the romance for a single second. A love story is superfluous if the audience do not care about it. The parallels drawn between this and the story of Romeo & Juliet are uncanny. This film may be based on legend, but the studio appears to do everything they can to ensure it's a pointless rehash of the classic Shakespeare tale told in a Braveheart kind of setting. The tagline mentions Romeo & Juliet, and even the title of the film is similar to Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet by inserting a '+' in the promotional title.

Still, the film is mildly entertaining at times if a little overlong. Tristan + Isolde told its story, but not well. The tame battle scenes and laughable romance leave this sitting in the mediocre category.