Arn: Knight Templar [Blu-ray]

It's quite sad that a movie that was released in 2007 takes until October 2010 to get a BD release here, especially when it's this good. I guess that's not unusual for European films, especially subtitled ones, which it's deemed by someone to not be mainstream enough for US audiences?The story was broken up into two movies in 2007, and 2008 originally so to get the "whole" story so to speak, is almost worth the wait, albeit in truncated form.That being said, apparently the original version ( a truly lavish scale of production by European standards ) was released initially in a Mini Series format running about 6 hours in total, much like the original German version of  Das Boot - The Original Uncut Version To date, no plans have been made to make this version available, and although it is possible to get the original two movies - ARN: The Knight Templar, and ARN: The Kingdom at Roads End on DVD, they are hard to find, and in PAL format, or region 2 coded.Arn (played by Joakim Nattergvist) is based on the trilogy of books by Swedish author Jan Guillou, and although I have not read the books, I consider this adaptation to be a rare treat for fans of the genre.It's easy to quickly draw many comparisons with movies like "Kingdom of Heaven", and even the Lord of the Rings trilogy in some ways, partly due to the fact that the movie is so well made. The acting is great throughout, the locations impressive, and the battle scenes are graphic and realistic.Some will feel that the battle scenes are scant, even though they are done on a grand scale, but the story is about the struggle, not just the fighting.It's a story of two parts really.A young boy growing up in 12th century Sweden is taken by his parents to a monastery as he has an illness, and is not expected to reach adulthood.While there, he is taken under the wing of a monk who previously "served God" in the holy crusades, and he nurtures Arn's apparent natural talent with weapons to teach him the finer arts of fighting, swordplay and archery - something the youngster takes to well, aided by the fact he is naturally ambidextrous.Historically, much of Europe around the time the movie is set, was not as geographically delineated as it is today, many countries were a loose collection of warring fiefdoms, vying for power, land and the throne, and Sweden was no exception. It is during one such encounter that while defending his fathers honor, he makes an enemy of the powerful Svenger clan.Against the wishes of his family, the young Arn also falls in love with Cecilia, the daughter of a local family betrothed to the Svenger clan to help cement an alliance between the two most powerful families trying to control the country.Through lies and scorn he is sent to the Holy Land as a Crusader to do penance for 20 years, while his young bride to be is sentenced likewise for 20 years in a local convent, run by a vicious Abbess, who is sympathetic to the Svenger clan.Half of the movie centers on her struggle and life in Sweden, and the other on Arn's arduous and battle ridden path through the Holy land.I'm not going to go into much more detail than that really, and that's about as much information you would get from the movie trailer anyway, so not really a spoiler.Compressing three books into one movie, that runs just under two and a quarter hours, I'm sure will leave some plot holes for people who have read the books, but to me it felt very complete.It's also going to feel a little slow to some people, this movie is as much about love and family as it is about fighting and the crusades.despite these two points, I strongly recommend seeing this movie.There are those who will be put off by subtitles, although a large portion of the movie is in English. What is particularly well done is that all the characters speak their own language, Arabic, French, Swedish and English, clearly stated on screen with the subtitles, so it's easy to keep up.There are a few familiar faces US viewers will probably recognize, not least Stellen Skarsgard, but most I'm sure like me will be amazed that they haven't seen Joakim Nattergvist in anything before.This is top notch acting, whichever way you look at it, from the whole cast but particularly him.Focused, driven and really believable in the role, he seems to embrace all aspects of Arn's character.This feels to me like old fashioned story telling, with modern technology kept to a minimum. It feels "Epic"If you like this kind of movie genre, see this film. 5 stars

This is a re-release of the earliest US edition that disappointed fans because of it's substantially shortened run time and clipping of many important plots and events from the storyline. THE PURPOSE OF THIS RE-RELEASE APPEARS TO BE THE ADDITION OF AN ENGLISH DUB to the foreign language portions of the movie. For authenticity, the original movie employed the appropriate languages for each region where Arn finds himself. When in Sweden, they speak Swedish, at the English monastery, they speak English. In the Holy land, he even speaks the native tongue with Salahudin. This is a virtue of the movie, not a detraction. I realize many out there try to avoid subtitles at all cost. I strongly suggest in this case you seek out the original (link below) this time and enjoy the authenticity. This English dub was not horrible, but I still found it annoying and sub standard. A very small minority out there may prefer it, but you still don't get the combined movies for the whole story.The full name of this show is ARN - THE KNIGHT TEMPLAR - and can be found here:  ARN The Knight Templar - The Complete Series [Blu-ray ]The full version is 258 minutes and worth every single second of it! It is based on a fictional character from the Jan Guillou Trillogy.This version is indeed the massively shortened version, slightly renamed in order to trick people into buying it again. Curiousity got the best of me and I actually bought it after I wrote this review and included updates. Hopefully my expense will save you the effort. When this was originally released in Europe, the first movie was called Arn, The Knight Templar & the sequal was called Arn, Kingdom at Roads End (they never appeared this way in the US). Later a combined and shortened version was released in the US (this same movie without the dub). Fans of that series patiently awaited the full, combined version that finally came out a few years ago in the US and is the link I provided above. Most people who know this show will know the difference. If you have not heard of it before, you are in for an amazing experience that rivals the best of Crusade movies Hollywood ever produced. Much more realistic in many ways and absolutely well executed as you would expect from the long line of great Scandinavian cinema. If you are interested in the genre, Arn is a must own, not a rental!THE PLOT: Arn Magnusson is a young boy (son of a prominent nobleman) raised in a local monastery so he can devote his life to God. A retired knight, now a monk, teaches the boy Arn to fight and realizes his skill lies more in combat than in being a monk. Arn grows up in the monastery and becomes enamored with a beautiful young girl (Sofia Helin) who sings with the choir in the monastery. He commits an indiscretion, is falsely accused of further crimes, excommunicated and assigned to do penance by the church through service in the Holy Land, fighting as a Knight Templar for a period of 20 years. He displays legendary skill and honor, becoming well respected even by his enemy Salahudin and his forces. They call him - Al Gouti.While he is in the Holy Land, his love is forced into a convent and abused by the Abbess who is a member of the rival clan to the Magnusson's and close relative to the king. They are also behind the addition of false charges and his excommunication. This story has great depth and engages the viewer virtually every moment. You will want to watch the combined set (two movies in one) in a single setting. Great conflicts, great adventures, and epoch love will all need to be resolved somehow, and the quest to do so is just plain beautiful. The condensed version of this movie removes many very important elements and results from the story. It's not even the same movie really. If they had to do a re-release for the dub, I wish they had at least done the entire set. I really don't think this one has much value and I would still prefer the original over the dub had they done it anyway. Very much so!Even if you never saw any other version than this butchered release, even with the dub, you would probably still be impressed. If you see the entire production as intended you will understand exactly where I am coming from. I cannot recommend strongly enough that you seek out the complete, non dubbed version. You will notice a few similarities in the plot to Kingdom of Heaven, mainly because it deals with the same time period. This is absolutely it's own movie, not a knock off. Kingdom of Heaven is a higher budget, glitzy showpiece that is also one of my favorite movies. However, in fundamentals I would say there are many areas where this is a superior piece. Not to mention the entirely separate parts of the story taking place in Sweden. My negative review does not denigrate the original listing because of the change in title - the two listings are not connected at the time of writing. The original is FIVE STARS.

Swedish Medieval Templar Crusade battles movie. Arn Magnusson is raised as a Swedish monk but also develops a talent for the sword. He is eventually a Knight Templar sent on the Crusades where he shows himself as a great tactician as well. There are several different languages spoken in the film such as Swedish, English, Latin, French, and Arabic. Basically the movie is European Christians occupying and defending Jerusalem and fighting a war against Arab Muslims. In the name of each of their gods both armies slaughter each other several times fighting over the Holy Land. Eventually the Arabs destroy the Europeans and conquer Jerusalem. Arn survives and goes back home only to have to defend his home kingdom from another neighboring lord trying to take power over the throne. Movie is made fairly well for what it is. While the Crusades, Templars, and battles for Jerusalem between Arab Muslams and European Christians are a real part of history, Arn Magnusson is a fictional made up character. The movie is based off of fictional book series "The Crusades" trilogy by Jan Guillou. Have seen this a couple times. Watched digital streaming with Prime Video.

This is a great film and it seems to be historically accurate as well as entertaining. It has a strong story line, convincing romance and the action scenes are well handled. Best of all is the coverage of historical events in Sweden, which most English viewers (myself included) are largely unaware of.Some viewers may be put off by the mixture of English and subtitled Swedish, Arabic and Latin in this film. I urge them not to be as it added a feeling of authenticity to me and we ought to be more keen to learn foreign languages in my country. I often find that European films are a breath of fresh air compared to what comes out of Hollywood nowadays so please don't let this discourage you.It does suffer a little from a 'Christian bashing' attitude, especially in the Holy Land scenes, and it does seem a little slanted towards the Islamic point of view regarding the Crusades. However, that does seem typical of current attitudes to this period, The Kingdom of Heaven film being an obvious case in point. I notice that film is compared to Arn: Knight Templar by many reviewers and have to say that this is more even handed concerning religion, which marred Ridley Scott's otherwise impressive epic.This is a great film with a good script, strong performances, a fine supporting cast and some great action. Having seen the original edited version, I think this special extended edition is even better, which says a great deal about this film. I strongly recommend it.

It's 1187 in the Holy Lands. Arn Magnusson is known as the honorable Al Ghouti to the Muslims. He rescues Saladin from bandits on his way to Egypt. Saladin is in debt to him.In flashbacks, Arn is the son of Magnus Folkesson (Michael Nyqvist) and defeats his foe in a duel. He falls for Cecilia. Her sister tries to bed him. It turns into a scandal and he's excommunicated. A pregnant Cecilia is forced into a nunnery and Arn is sent on the Crusade.The story flow is disrupted with the constant back and forth. It's not that necessary to keep going back to Cecilia. There is also a disjointed feel. Joakim Nätterqvist is a rather bland leading man. He's a nice Viking-like look but lacks a bigger charisma. This is probably something for the fans of the books but it doesn't hold up as a cinematic movie.The music is extremely slow and lacks dynamics which unfortunately adds to the overall dull atmosphere throughout the film.

I bought and enjoyed the original Arn release; English, Danish, Swedish etc. It is an epic story set in turbulent times and incorporates a beautiful love story. I also like the fact that the acting is not over the top nor are the sets or battles - it is more believable than Kingdom of Heaven. Anyway, my original DVD was damaged and I reordered the Extended Edition. I think that when the original DVD was edited, it was either done in haste or else without much compassion or understanding of the full story. It is only when watching the Extended version that so much of the story begins to make sense. More of Arn's childhood, more of his parents, his lifelong relationship with Knut, Knut's story, his love affair and marriage etc. It seems as though they made three key decisions when editing the original release and hoped that it would make sense without giving too much detail; anything relating to Knut and was erased; the struggle for the kingdom was therefore shortened and didn't really make sense; the love story was shortened. If you enjoyed the original version, then I think that you were short-changed, even if you did enjoy it. If you are into 'history' and romantic, then buy this version and sit back and relax for 200 mins of fantastic historical drama.

Although this film has subtitles as claimed, they are only there when a foreign language is being spoken and not when English is spoken. Therefore the film only has partial subtitles and this is not made clear in the advertising. As a seriously deaf person I find this frustrating to only find out after I have purchased and settled down to watch the film. I believe this to be false advertising, fraudulent and downright lies. The subtitles are not HOH, The deaf are treated with disregard in this matter every time.

This is the Swedish epic that tells part of the story of Arn, who helped to forge Sweden into a real nation. In Sweden this was two films that ran to over 250 minutes. Here they have been melded down to 130 minutes. So I have some sympathy for the negative reviews that have called this a mish, mash etc. However, it is still a ruddy good effort.Arn is schooled in a monastery as a way of thanking God for saving his life after an illness (not uncommon practice). He leans more towards archery and sword play than Bible study and so his path to serving God as a soldier is pretty much mapped out. He falls for the daughter of a rival clan and as punishment she gets sent to a nunnery and he has to go off to the Holy Land and serve with the Knights Templar. This is not the story of the Crusades but does deal with it in part, but not very well for historical purists, but the real story here is the love story between Arn and Cecilia, and I felt that there was chemistry and thoroughly enjoyed it. The acting is all pretty much on the money and the cinematography is excellent. And it is epic in the cast and also battle scenes, though I have seen better, but that is a small point. Joakim Natterqvist and Sofia Helin are both excellent and Simon Callow is there for us Brits. Whilst there is the usual 'poetic licence' taken with the plot, this just adds to the narrative and helps sweep you and the plot along.There have been complaints about the language and I see that might be a problem for some, it is mainly English, but with dialogue in Swedish, Arabic and Latin; I found the subtitles very good and in no way detracted from my enjoyment. However both the Amazon description and the DVD box do not mention the foreign language which has upset a few people. As I said I did not find this a problem and think this is a must for fans of foreign cinema especially if you like a great big dollop of historical action.