Charbonnel
(雪宿り）イギリス/UK
It’s a good film, whether you’ve seen the prequels or not.
So, having singled this out amongst the trailers in cinemas a few months ago, I’d been planning to watch to this one for a while. However, I did fail to watch the rest of the films in the series to prepare myself properly. This did not prevent the film from being enjoyable at all! It was very solid.
Perhaps my rating should come with a pinch of salt, as fans of the previous films would almost certainly rate this higher.
The action is very very solid. It’s also particularly well done for not feeling like “flying men” at all, as some of these surreal historical pieces can do. Action on and off horseback largely a joy to watch. The film has plenty, and I mean plenty, of action. Cinematography? It’d give it a yay? Acting was incredibly strong, along with the music. These really brought things together nicely.
Plot comments shouldn’t come from me as I’m no veteran of the series, but it was well thought out and I did enjoy the story.
There were some small immersion breakers - such as how I couldn’t help but notice every time I could see a certain character’s underarm, that it was always perfectly clean shaven - was this a continuity choice? Possibly, although I can’t be sure. The only other one (which I totally understand, for safety) was a couple times where the animatronic horses felt too obvious - that’s coming from someone who has been riding from a young age though, again, so probably not going to affect everyone’s experience. That was for the main actors. However, there were a number of moments that left me impressed with the horses and their riders in the film (the vast majority of which, real).
The only major drawback is - to those with commitment issues, like me - 146 minutes is a LONG runtime. So this was a bit long for my taste, and there was no interval in cinemas, it was simply buckle in and enjoy the ride.
Overall I would most definitely recommend to anyone interested. I will be indulging in the previous instalments of the series when I have some time to do so. It may also go without saying, but should there be a fifth film, I will likely be trekking out to see that one in cinemas if I have the chance.
Perhaps my rating should come with a pinch of salt, as fans of the previous films would almost certainly rate this higher.
The action is very very solid. It’s also particularly well done for not feeling like “flying men” at all, as some of these surreal historical pieces can do. Action on and off horseback largely a joy to watch. The film has plenty, and I mean plenty, of action. Cinematography? It’d give it a yay? Acting was incredibly strong, along with the music. These really brought things together nicely.
Plot comments shouldn’t come from me as I’m no veteran of the series, but it was well thought out and I did enjoy the story.
There were some small immersion breakers - such as how I couldn’t help but notice every time I could see a certain character’s underarm, that it was always perfectly clean shaven - was this a continuity choice? Possibly, although I can’t be sure. The only other one (which I totally understand, for safety) was a couple times where the animatronic horses felt too obvious - that’s coming from someone who has been riding from a young age though, again, so probably not going to affect everyone’s experience. That was for the main actors. However, there were a number of moments that left me impressed with the horses and their riders in the film (the vast majority of which, real).
The only major drawback is - to those with commitment issues, like me - 146 minutes is a LONG runtime. So this was a bit long for my taste, and there was no interval in cinemas, it was simply buckle in and enjoy the ride.
Overall I would most definitely recommend to anyone interested. I will be indulging in the previous instalments of the series when I have some time to do so. It may also go without saying, but should there be a fifth film, I will likely be trekking out to see that one in cinemas if I have the chance.
Was this review helpful to you?
