Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd
Had no idea what to expect with this film, having only seen one short trailer of a large ship whipping across the screen in heavy seas with Crowe in his now infamous pose of “look at me, I'm hard!” and the sound of cannon fire. With no idea of the story line (Which is sometimes better) I relinquished my cash and took my seat. Film got off to an odd start with what looked like a few small boys running a large ship. It was only when the first cannonball hit that I realised that I was actually watching the film unfold in real time and not some dream of youth being conjured up in the mind of a reminiscent captain.
Every time I see a film with Mr Crowe in it, I can't help but wait for him to reveal his true identity and mention his murdered wife and son, run around an arena and kill the bad guy. Gladiator this film is not, but there is the same element of 'epic' about it. Big costumes, big ships, big moments of heart rendering despair and the mandatory big battle when all the important people get it in the neck and bow out of the film.
Actually, the whole flick surprised me. I wasn't moving uncomfortably in my seat waiting for a particular scene to finish because I found it slow and uneventful. There didn't seem to to be anything that shouldn't have been there (To me at least) and they did manage to get a well crafted joke into the story (The one about the Weavels). On the whole it was well acted, well presented and surprisingly good, considering I had no idea what I was about to watch beforehand!
Thoroughly enjoyable movie.
