Purely Joyful Movie!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Dutch cinema is ofcourse not widely known as one of the world's greatest contributions to world cinema, but in Admiral we have a film that is not lacking in its ambition, and while it does a lot of things right, it doesn't really manage to capture the bottom line of making the audience care about it. I like slow movies. The reason i prefer slow movies over fast ones is because films are a cinematic experience which need to sink into and be absorbed by the audience which will only succeed if certain sequences are drawn out instead of rushed through. Unfortunately, this is exactly what did happen with Admiral, as it seems to choke on its own haste. I personally do not know much about the history of Mr. de Ruyter, but i understand the film is supposedly very historically accurate. However, in its ambition to create historical accuracy the film seems to suffer from trying to put too many important historical battles in its 2 hour 31 running time, which results in extreme gaps in timelines after which the audience gets the idea that we missed huge chunks of the story. What is essentially the story of Admiral is him setting out to sea, fighting some battles against the English or French, coming home for some dramatic political or family scenes, and setting out again. It is also a picture that seems obsessed with creating an incredible amount of drama in nearly every scene, with its grandiose music by Trevor Morris ( While the music is great, its epic parts are used far too much ) & stylish slow motion techniques. While this might seem great there really isn't much drama in the end because the movie's pace is too fast for the characters to be fleshed out.Admittedly the costume design, music & in certain scenes the cinematography is all very pleasing, but a lot of the greatest visual shots in the film are cut short because the movie always seems to be in a hurry for some reason. It seems to think it is in a race while wanting to get to the finish line as quickly as possible. If you create impressive visuals, director Roel Reine should atleast let the audience appreciate it instead of cutting it short so quickly. Most of the shots on the ships are basically slow motion shots of pieces of wood and splinters flying through the air, which is all ofcourse stylishly filmed, but in the end has little substance. Reine also simply moves the camera way too much all the time. Even the simplest scenes feature overly dynamic camera movements for no apparent reason other than to keep the modern low attentionspan audience interested. It also for some reason features a lot under hip height shots ( Especially on the ships ), so except for some of the wideshots of the naval battles we really don't see much of what is happening most of the time.Frank Lammers is a pretty bad actor, and his performance as M. de Ruyter is just laughable at best. It also quite possibly has the worst casting ever of the country's greatest actor Rutger Hauer, and the guy who played William the third was pretty mediocre in his own right. The only truly impressive performance was from Sanne Langelaar, who played Michiel's wife, as she seems to be the only person that seems to truly be emotionally connected to the events of the film. A lot of people die, including some of its protagonists, which ofcourse results in overly dramatic slow motion and orchestral music in order to invoke emotions in the audience. However, this doesn't work as well as it should because the film doesn't really make you care about its characters and its world, since all it seems obsessed with is haste. Without substance these dramatic scenes become melodramatic scenes which in turn makes the film somewhat pretentious. It's great ambition cannot be denied, but in the end it is quite devoid of relatability.While it is a valiant effort of creating a dramatic view of de Ruyter's life and at times it is visually great, it does not succeed in making the audience care that much because it seems to be obsessed with its own haste.

I award this movie only nine stars because nothing man-made, including this review, has been proved to be perfect so far. But "Admiral" is as close to perfection as it gets. Frank Lammers, cast as Michiel de Ruyter, is up to this challenging role. He leads the fleet of the Dutch Republic, a confederation of seven often quarreling provinces or states, against the powerful fleet of the British empire. He is an inspiring commander and a doting husband and father. He is a military tactician of the first order and a soldier's soldier. The lovely Sanne Langelar, cast as his wife and as the mother of his three children, has just as much integrity and valor as he does. When in the middle of the night a multitudinous, violent mob bent on destruction swarms around the home where she lives with her children, she confronts them alone, wearing no greater protection than a nightgown. The supporting cast is outstanding and works well together to bring alive a dynamic period of Dutch history. The Republic's success in naval warfare didn't discourage her opponents, who combined against her. This turning of events is the tragic background for the convincing performance of Barry Atsma, cast as Johan de Witt, the "Grand Pensioner" of the Republic. He poignantly portrays the transient nature of success and its dangers. Under his stewardship, the Republic scored victories against the British crown. While he earned a measure of satisfaction, those victories bred factionalism and resentment at home. As de Witt, Atsma journeys from consummate optimism to soul-crushing self doubt. His loathsome end tinged with the stench of betrayal comes when the frontiers of the Republic buckle under the combined assault of her massed enemies. Lieke Van Lexmond is sumptuously seductive and wholesome in the role of his wife, Wendela. Egbert Jan Weeber, cast as Willem III, proves himself up to the demands of his "anti- hero" role, which requires him to be principled, conniving, and remorseful at different points. Charles Dance portrays British monarch Charles II as the avatar or British power, supremely disdainful towards anyone opposed to his designs, proving that he enjoyed a degree of impunity that de Witt, who was one defeat removed from being lynched, sorely lacked. Discussing the work of all the others who made the film possible would add excessive length to this review, whose point is pretty straightforward: go watch the movie!I'm sure that the true story of how a small nation like Holland survived and prospered in Europe is rich, complex, and full of lessons. "The Admiral" is a superb introduction to this subject.

It's not the three musketeers and I'm not even sure what this is based on. Though I reckon a bit of research here, will bring up a lot of that stuff, so I won't have to bore you with that. I was a bit surprised to see this coming from Holland. On the other hand, they are a bit more free when it comes to nudity (just in case you are prude or have a general issue with that, a heads up).The general swords play and the effects are pretty good. Unfortunately the German disc only had the dubbed version on it, so I couldn't enjoy the real actors voice and environment noise of the production. But it's still made an impression on me and the movie is really rock solid (for some maybe even more than that). The set design, the ships, everything screams a bigger budget than they actually had. Not to mention some very serious acting talent at hand ...

Simply put, Admiral has the makings of an epic film. I was immediately drawn into the script like a great novel - not wanting to put it down or skip to the end. Naval tactics, politics, social networks, weaved together to create a monarchy basket. Good drama - check; music - check; acting - check; dry humor - check; graphics - check; cinematography - check; heroes - check; heroins - check; villains - check; emotional roller coaster - check; entertainment - check. Frankly, this is one of the few films I would not care to compare to historical facts or details. Thus no points to distract from good story telling. After all, good story telling taps into one's imagination unless one has no imagination. As de Ruyter states, "All ships are unsinkable - until they sink."