Royal Deceit

Starring:Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, Brian Cox, Steven Waddington, Kate Beckinsale, Tony Haygarth, Freddie Jones, Tom Wilkinson, Saskia Wickham, Brian Glover, Mark Williams, Andy Serkis, Philip Rham, Ewen Bremner, Richard Dempsey, David Bateson, Jess Ingerslev, Ian Burns, Asta Esper Hagen Andersen
Director: Gabriel Axel
Studio: Miramax
Product Type: DVD

Description

Dynamic big-screen favorite Gabriel Byrne (GHOST SHIP) stars with Helen Mirren (GOSFORD PARK), Christian Bale (EQUILIBRIUM, REIGN OF FIRE), Kate Beckinsale (SERENDIPITY, PEARL HARBOR), and Brian Cox (X2: X-MEN UNITED, THE RING) in one of the year's most powerful looks at passion and betrayal among royalty. A young prince, after discovering that his father has been murdered, vows to avenge the death and regain the crown. Plotting his revenge, he cleverly bides his time ... waiting and watching -- and hoping -- for the precise moment to execute the deadly plan! Get ready for edge-of-your-seat suspense ... ROYAL DECEIT is riveting motion picture entertainment!

Customer Reviews:

What a complete waste of talent & source material.......2007-06-30

This movie could have been so good! Drawing from of Saxo Grammaticus rather than Shakespeare, the movie aims to present the Hamlet story in a more historical context. This is quite laudable, and certainly the producers had a more than talented cast at their disposal, but this was an opportunity completely squandered. I can only assume that this was done on a shoestring budget, since there seem to be only 2 dozen extras available at any given time & the battle scenes are nothing short of laughable. Still, one can tell a good story and manage to pinch the pennies. The story told her is disjointed, poorly constructed, and far too abbreviated. 85 minutes simply does not allow for the development of either plot or character, and the movie suffers badly as a result. This was a huge disappointment, and only the performances by Byrne & Mirren begin to salvage it. I suppose renting it wouldn't be a complete waste --- it certainly won't be a waste of time, since it's over almost as soon as it has begun --- but only a lunatic would spend money on this dud.

Castles and Kings.......2007-01-28

Features a younger Christian Bale (made in 1993). Gabriel Byrne is great, as usual, as the brother of the king, who murders the king. Bale is the son of the king, and feigns madness when his father is murdered-mainly to stay alive and let his uncle claim the throne. Revenge comes later. Based on legend. Different, and entertaining.

From the opening credits.......2006-03-17

featuring cookie-cutter travel log footage of Scandanavian scenery to the very last scene with 30 exhausted extras shouting "God Save the King" at three better than average actors standing ill at ease on a wooden platform, it was all pretty disasterous.

I knew that it was a no go at the first syllable of the "narration." Instead of showing us the murders of Amleth's father and brother, we were told about it. Instead of showing us the horror and mystery of Amleth's father's ghost appearing to him and telling him of his uncle's treachery, we were told about it.

The poor actors were given almost nothing to play. I imagine that they were pining for Shakespeare's genius for writing superbly playable scenes and dialog. He would never have left his actors so stranded.

The story and the actors deserved far better. What a total waste of celuloid.

Not Entirely Successful.......2006-02-28

This spare film is based on an original version of the Hamlet story. The makers of this film clearly wanted to capture the stark nature of the story and probably the character of life in early Medieval Northern Europe. The actors are a really impressive cast and their performances are quite good. The film is impaired by its limited budget which somewhat degrades the efforts at historical realism. As other reviewers comment, the use of voiceover narration to carry the narrative is not successful. A very good idea but not well executed despite its first rate cast.

A fine cast of actors, wasted........2006-01-21

After watching this extremely low-budget film of a tale based on the historical story of "Hamlet" it was easy to see where all the money went: to the cast members. The cast is loaded with potential. It includes Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, a youthful looking Kate Beckinsale (she has come a long, long way since this film), and a plethora of the kind of actors that make you ask, "What other movie did I see that actor in?" But the rest of the film fails to live up to this monumental promise. For much of the movie it looks and feels like a made-for-television romp through medieval times. It has a small cast of haggard-looking extras in peasant clothing, royalty that, if not for the crowns they wore, would be indistinguishable from the common herd, and some very predictable and flawed direction. The followers of the king, peasantry included, number about thirty in total and they all live in this small wooden village. The director makes the mistake of using a large amount of voice-over narration to propel the story, which by the end was whittled down to about 90 minutes of Masterpiece Theater shot in the countryside. One scene has Hamlet dashing from a buring hall, sword in hand, but when he rounds the corner of a building his sword is missing; cut to the following scene of Hamlet confronting the new king, his murderous uncle, and the sword reappears in his hand. That kind of blatantly poor film editing is unforgivable. The acting ranges from good to passable, but no amount of thespian zeal could have or did save this project from gradual diminishing returns. Except for the sighting of a schoolgirl version of Kate Beckinsale, prim and proper as all young lasses tend to be, this film is sadly a waste of time and money.

Average customer rating:

What a complete waste of talent & source material
Castles and Kings
From the opening credits
Not Entirely Successful
A fine cast of actors, wasted.

Royal Deceit [Region 2]
Starring: Gabriel Byrne , Helen Mirren , Christian Bale , Brian Cox , and Steven Waddington
Director: Gabriel Axel
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( R ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000063VCK

Customer Reviews:

What a complete waste of talent & source material.......2007-06-30

Castles and Kings.......2007-01-28

From the opening credits.......2006-03-17

Not Entirely Successful.......2006-02-28

A fine cast of actors, wasted........2006-01-21

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