Britannia

Looking for things to binge on while cooped up in quarantine, you could do far worse than this strange, involving, and sometimes brilliant show. Produced as a joint venture between Sky and Amazon Prime, the first season is up for streaming on Prime, and the second season will hopefully be available soon. They obviously spent a lot of money on the production, and it stars a lot of faces that will be highly familiar to those accustomed to British film and TV.

Set in 43 AD, the show depicts the invasion of Britain by the Roman Empire. This is a highly mythologized version of events, because the show portrays the Britons and Romans as almost completely ignorant of each other, when they had been well-known to one another for almost a century by this point, and in fact several kingdoms in southern Britain were more or less Roman client states. But a whole new world is more dramatic and exciting, and so there is a reference to Caesar’s invasions in 55-54 BCE and that’s it.

In firm keeping with the tradition of writers like Howard and Talbot Mundy, the Romans are entirely the villains here, with David Morrissey giving a wonderfully smirking, arrogant performance as General Aulus Plautius. The Romans invade in the night, burn down villages and kill anyone who resists, taking everyone else as prisoners and slaves. They come in as motiveless conquerors and killers, and really, to the people they invaded, they would not look like anything else.

The invasion immediately sends the already fractious Briton politics into a frenzy. The land is chiefly divided between the Cantii and the Regni, with Ian McDiarmid as King Pellinore of the Cantii and the fabulous Zoe Wanamaker as Queen Antedia of the Regni. They are already at each others’ throats because years previously Pellinore’s daughter was married to Antedia’s son, and she castrated him on their wedding night. Ouch.

So everybody hates everybody else, and then the Roman invasion throws gas on the fire. Kelly Reilly is fantastic as the pale-eyed rogue princess Kerra, with her thick mane of red and her predatory stare. McDiarmid plays her father Pellinore as a pious man who earnestly wants peace in the face of intransigent enemies, and the events that follow are thick with betrayal, murder, battle, and backstabbing of a dozen kinds.

An interesting element here is the depiction of the druids. We know very little of the druidic order now, and the show takes advantage of this by inventing freely. Mackenzie Crook – best known as the goofy, wooden-eyed pirate Ragetti in Pirates of the Caribbean – is chilling and unnerving as the Archdruid Veran, a man said to be hundreds of years old, and who wields unseen and frightening powers. The show actually shows the druids as a religious power who control people through their faith, rather than simply some kind of weird cult. Even though magic in the show is often paired with drugs and altered states of mind, there is definitely more going on than that.

But the show goes out of its way to keep there from being clear-cut heroes and villains. Most of the bad guys have reasons to be the way they are, and more layers than simple cutouts. The druids seem malevolent, but then Veran seems to have reasons for what he does, and a lot of times, he seems to be right. It convincingly gives the impression that he is involved in some long game he won’t explain. A lot of the characters, even ones you sympathize with, are at cross-purposes, and when they come face to face you are not sure who you want to prevail.

The fight choreography could be better here, and there could be more of it. Overall the show is well-directed and well-acted. It looks great and the costuming is especially beautiful. There’s just nine episodes in the first season, but that was enough to have me looking forward to the second. If you are trapped, sheltering-in-place like I am, and you have access to Prime, then this is certainly a show to check out.

Flame in the Dark

The city of Shendim blazed crimson in the sunset, the night coming down from the high places of the desert to coil abut the white walls and alabaster towers. Watchfires were lit along the battlements, casting forth their handfuls of sparks, illuminating the troubled faces of the guards who watched the dark for the oncoming terror they all lived in dread of – the army they knew was coming against them, though they could not see it.

The people, as yet, walked untroubled through their streets and gardens, for Zaban, on his return to the walls of his stolen city, had told them nothing of the terrible defeat he had suffered in the desert. He had shut himself within the high walls of the palace and spoke to no one of where his army had gone. All he had done was give orders that the walls be watched and the gates shut. He offered gold in plenty to any mercenary or sellsword who walked within his reach, and so all the men in arms within the walls knew what was coming, even if they did not know all.

Shedjia stood wrapped in darkness upon the top of one white tower, looking down at the city spread beneath her. She saw the pinpoints of lanterns and candles, saw the shapes of people as they moved through the city, from night markets and temple rites, from secret meetings and amorous assignations. They went through their lives, all unknowing that a power from out of the lost ages of the past was coming to usurp their world.

The darkness that enshrouded her was a more than ordinary shadow, a cloak of unseen night that guarded her from those who would see her, and so she could move through them, unknown, so long as she exercised a modicum of caution. Shedjia had been a thief long before she had become familiar to a sorcerer, so she knew well enough how to pass without being seen.

She passed the guard posts, noting how the men huddled close to their fires in the chill desert night. She heard their mutterings and doubts, and she knew what they feared. They would not stand hard in the service of Zaban, for they did not fear him, nor honor him. Their iron was bought with silver, and so it would not hold.

Brotherhood of the Wolf

To date one of the highest-grossing French films ever released in the US, Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des Loups in its native language) was a sleeper hit in 2001 when it was given an overseas release and prowled into theaters without much fanfare. A lot of people didn’t know what to make of it, and it remains a strange and entertaining mix of monster movie, horror, action, period drama, and martial arts spectacle.

Directed by French filmmaker Christophe Gans – who has not directed anything so good before or since – Brotherhood is a fantastical mishmash of real life and pure invention. It takes the historical mystery of the Beast of Gevaudan from the 1760s and adds to it, creating a story of bloodshed, intolerance, political intrigue, secret cults, and madness wrapped around the central idea, all revolving around the question of what was the monster, and why did it kill.

In provincial France before the revolution, the Chevalier de Fronsac – a naturalist for the king – is sent to Gevaudan to investigate the killings in company with his blood brother Mani – an Iroqios from the American colonies in New France (also known as Canada). He encounters disturbed locals, a frightened peasantry, and layer upon layer of mystery to uncover. The film has a satisfyingly meaty script, with a lot of characters, a lot of development and nuance, and a lot of very French witty banter.

It all builds against a backdrop of brooding forests and primordial hills haunted by the specter of a killing beast who hunts and devours women and children, and seems immune to bullets or the hunter’s lure. The people are sure it is a wolf, and engage in gleeful wolf-hunts hoping to slay it, but Fronsac suspects something else is at work, and we soon see he is right.

The cast is quite good, with Samuel Bihan delivering a charming turn as the chevalier, while handling the action scenes with real flair. International martial arts star Marc Dacascos is his Native American companion, and while he is not a genuine native, he is at least not white, and he embodies a stoic, reserved cool. Vincent Cassel lends his serpentine charisma as one of the villains of the piece, while Monica Bellucci is both deadly and gorgeous as courtesan/secret agent/assassin Sylvia. The rest of the cast is filled with character actors and other performers who all seem to be having a grand time and turn in good performances, lending the movie a lot of depth and texture.

Brotherhood of the Wolf is a pulp film of the first order, wallowing in violence, gore, and sexual carnality to a degree not often seen these days. You get swordfights, knife-fights, and Dacascos gets to show off his championship martial arts skills more than once. The violence does not reach the limb-ripping levels of movies like Centurion, but it is more than satisfying, and never feels like it is censoring itself.

When the beast itself is finally revealed, it is a hell of a beast. It has to be said that the early-2000s budget CGI looks pretty bad now, but the animatronics, courtesy of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, still look badass. It’s a huge monster, neither wolf nor demon, and the narrative keeps you guessing as to what it really is. The big set piece hunt is just the turn from the second act to the third, and there is plenty more to come.

The excellent cinematography and locations make this a beautiful movie to look at, though the fad for ramping and needless slow-mo of the time do stand out as dated to a modern eye. The music, by Joseph LoDuca, deserves especial mention, as it is gorgeous and enchanting, helping to evoke another time and place. LoDuca has mostly worked on TV scores, and this is one of his few films, but he did outstanding work.

There is no overt sorcery in this film, but with the third act turn to medieval mad science and a bad guy with a full-on zombie arm, we are skirting the edges. Fronsac is an excellent pulp hero, if of a more intellectual bent than most. He is a scholar who longs to travel to Africa, but he is also a soldier and more than capable of applying foot to ass when called on to do so. This is a tale that could have made for a good Solomon Kane adventure, and would fit admirably into Howard’s more historically-minded stories like “Wolfshead”, along with shades of Clark Ashton Smith’s tales of Averoigne. If you are a Sword & Sorcery fan then you should already have this movie on your shelf, and if you don’t, then you will definitely want to check it out.

Swords of the Red Horizon

Zaban sat on his throne and awaited the coming of the priests, and he was ill-contented with all he saw. The hour was late, and the throne hall was dark, lit only by flickering lanterns and two great braziers that guttered and flickered in the night wind, giving forth little but smoke. Guards stood ranked about the hall, and there were fewer courtiers than he wished. Ever since he had seized the throne, those who had once seemed to stand in support of him had melted and drifted away, finding one pretense or another to stay away from the court.

Already he heard whispers of rebellion. Taxes delivered late, or stolen and hidden away. He heard of the great land-lords gathering mercenaries to them, and some were even said to have appealed to the lords of Ashem to join with them. His back fairly itched from the imagined knives. Worse, there was word that Malika had found shelter among the desert tribes and was gathering a force to retake her throne. It was enough of a failure that she had escaped him – now she was a rallying point for his enemies.

His guards moved aside from the entryway to the hall, and he watched as the priests of Uannan entered. There were three of them, followed by a procession of temple boys bearing torches and censers, scattering flower petals on the floor and leaving the scent of incense in their wake. Zaban watched them with distaste, for he put little store in priests, but his commanders wished a sign, and so he would give them one.

Most of the men here in the hall were his military officers, the men who were the backbone of his power here, and who would extend it forth once again. The escape of the queen had caused a great deal of unrest. Had she died, he could have invented any story he wanted, but now she was free, and though he had suppressed the story, still it was whispered in the shadows that he was a usurper and the queen still lived. His men wanted divine assurance, and so he had ensured they would have it.

Outlander

No, not the TV show based on Diana Gabaldon’s 1991 time-travel romance novel. This Outlander is an independent film released in 2009 that is yet another reworking of the Beowulf myth, and so it has some themes and feel in common with The 13^th Warrior. Despite not having any supernatural elements, this film likewise is one Sword & Sorcery fans are likely to enjoy.

This is an SF-flavored reimagining of Beowulf that casts both he and monster as visitors from outer space. Protagonist Kainan opens the story by crashing his spaceship in what turns out to be 8^th century Norway, and along with him comes the reason he crashed – a hulking, malevolent alien predator called a Moorwen. With his ship sunk in a lake and lost, Kainan has none of his advanced technology to fall back on, and has to make his way among the suspicious locals. Then he discovers that his nemesis also survived, and a battle to the end ensues.

The cast is surprisingly full of well-known names. James Caviezel stars as the hero, with Sophia Myles as his inevitable love interest. Jack Huston plays Wulfric, the prince who starts as Kainan’s enemy and then becomes his friend. John Hurt is here as King Hrothgar, and Ron Perlman is at his bearded, bald-headed best as rival king Gunnar. The movie spends a surprising amount of time with character development and building up secondary characters, and it pays off surprisingly well, as when the beast starts slaughtering villagers you actually have some feeling for them.

The Moorwen itself is pretty awesome. It was designed by Patrick Tatopoulos and looks it, and while it’s not a blazingly original design, it works. The CGI is a bit dodgy, but they made the good decision to mostly shoot the creature in darkness and have it be bioluminescent. This creates some fantastic visuals as it prowls in the dark, light flickering and pouring over it, so it is hard to even tell what it is shaped like. While the effects don’t look photo-real (this was 2008 after all), they did manage to give the beast real personality.

They give the story a twist, as the background is that Kainan is from an advanced human civilization (that apparently ‛seeded’ Earth as a colony – don’t overthink it.) and he helped exterminate the Moorwen in order for his people to take over their planet. They left a soft colony behind and the last of the monsters slaughtered all the humans – including Kainan’s wife and child, of course. This is bog-standard backstory stuff, but it does add a layer to the movie, as both Kainan and the monster have motivation to do what they do, and neither one of them is going to stop until one of them is dead.

The final battle, with the hero and his allies venturing into a waterfall-filled cavern to kill the monster, is pretty epic and quite gruesome, as the Moorwen has piled up all the corpses of its victims to serve as food for it’s offspring – of course it has an offspring. A lot of the plucky side characters die, Kainan has to rescue the girl and his little surrogate son – there’s not much in this screenplay that is not cliched, and the beats are predictable – and it all comes to the end you expect, when Kainan destroys the beacon that would have brought him a rescue and stays behind to be king.

Is it predictable? Yeah. But it spends more time on character than most movies like this, and it at least tries to depict the huge gulf in understanding of science that exists between the outer-space hero and his new Viking friends. The use of highly accurate, reconstructed Old Norse for a lot of dialogue is also a point of interest. Weapons and armor are not totally historical, but better than the usual, and the violence is satisfyingly bloody. Kainan does not start out as a hero, only wanting to escape this primitive world, and his change of heart is convincingly drawn. This is a very pulpy, SF-themed fantasy film that fans of S&S, action, and horror will be able to enjoy.