Pilgrimage

Because all movies about mysterious 13th century faith-driven PTSD killing machines are better in Gaelic. - Oscar Wilde

Bernthal does a bunch of his silent type smoldering before going all apeshit on a bunch of guys--kind of his forte. Holland plays the whimpy kid he looks like. And there some interesting middle age politics and religion thrown in. So, what's the rub, you ask. Why's it crappy if big man Bernthal goes shirtless for a little while and whoops some ass? Well, there's not much of a point to this mess, and a buff set of pecs can only do so much of the heavy lifting, pun intended.

Too much spoken French and small subtitles that were hard to read. This didn't make it feel more authentic, just really annoying. The religious nonsense is somewhat interesting, but much of this movie just plods along with little more than tension to sustain it. Monastery music and Gregorian chants. At has a good fight at about half way but with lousy camera cuts and shaking. Then another decent fight near the end, just before the pointless ending. Extra points for atmosphere.

The film is static until the final act, where characters finally begin to fray, develop, and become interesting. Until then, the film relies on scenery and droning anticipation, which just barely carries investment until the compelling end.

I think any shortcomings that it has are forgiven by how gorgeous this is. I'm a real sucker for atmospheric shots of wilderness, especially wide ones, and this has that in spade. Basically, yeah, nature looks astounding. Also, Bernthal is a badass so it has that going for it, and despite Holland not doing a whole lot, he's pretty sympathetic. Some excellent violence here that isn't fancy, unlike some movies that would make longer choreography. Here it is just blunt and to the point.

You've have to be in a special kind of mood to watch this kind of movie. My score maybe doesn't reflect it, but I did enjoy watching this. Just don't expect anything special.

I have an incorrigible weakness for this type of film. It has quite a few believability issues, but the acting is good, and the movie looks outstanding. Its message is a bit heavy-handed.