That was an excellent one.

Perfect cast and a good story

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The episodic, incoherent script patches together highlights from FIVE historical adventure novels spanning a 20-year period of the 17th century. This film takes for granted that we already know something of the era's Spanish political, literary, artistic and military history. Even Spaniards found this movie confusing, so what hope do we foreign viewers have? Mortensen is very good in the title role, though the Argentine Spanish of his youth occasionally creeps through the European accent he learned for the film. In fact, the whole cast is good, but they're trapped in a hopeless script that skips and jumps over plot points too fast while still somehow remaining plodding and dull.The visual style works well, and I like the brutality of the battle scenes. (In English-language films, by comparison, war often comes off as a bit too clean and tidy.)The Alatriste novels have a lot to offer, so ideally this should have been made as a TV miniseries.

I would not be so bold as to interject an "alien" perspective vis-a-vis the native responses, from those who speak Spanish and who live the living and historic cultural references. That said, as a longtime Viggo Mortensen fan, I found the cramming of five novels into one movie educational as well as entertaining. Not that I too wasn't nonplussed by the abrupt beginnings and endings of episodes and chapter, but that I found the creators' cinematic projections more than canny and less than "true," in the sense of historic reference. I have no idea about the inspirational novels. The estimable Spanish thespians and technicians, and the "record" production costs aside, this movie reminded and reassured me that fiim is ALWAYS irreality, or, at best, surreality. How else could it be? And Viggo, as always, invigorates the persona he inhabits, even as he lapses into Viggo banalities of the long stare and the laconic eye. He was probably well-paid here, but, in his long and distinguished iconography of film credits, I doubt this will rank very high. Personally, I think his tortured and Satanic little-bro investment in "The Indian Runner" will eventually prove a high point, alongside his Tom Stall and Russian mobster evocations. But I have hopes he will transcend all three. with a role yet to come and yet to chzllenge. And if the "Academy" then proves once more its idiocies, so be it. Postscript: If I may here respond to IMDb editors, who chose to delete my one-paragraph "comment" on "King's Row," I could find no other venue for same, why could the editors not simply provide a forum for my accuser's accusation of abuse"? That would have been fair. Just because I am NOT an admirer of Ronald Reagan the politician does not disqualify my assay of Ronald Reagan the actor, never mind Ronald Reagan the president of the Screen Actors Guild.

I've read every single book of Arturo Perez Reverte's novel and when I noticed there all them will resume in just one movie I was afraid of the results. To those who haven't read imagine Peter Jackson would have made just one move instead of the trilogy. The result is obviously wouldn't have been the same.Apart this I wanted to watch it cause so far is been the most expensive movie ever made in Spanish history (around 32$ millions) and wanted to see what we are capable of. It seems we have to improve a lot. Actors are great, the portrayal of Madrid in the 16th century is amazing (for a Spanish movie). Although I missed more open shots or panoramic which could show us Madrid more detailed Madrid. As the 5 novels are concentrated in 120 min sometimes is difficult to follow the plot or it lost strengh. Casting is OK but I think it could have been better with less well known Spanish actors as some of them have just 5 lines and I start to understand were all that budget went to.In conclusion it's a watchable but obviously is not a piece of art. As a first attempt for the Spanish industry to make an epic and a worldwide known movie is a so-so beguining. Hopefully it will improve next time. It will keep you entertained but don't expect high heroic deeds. 6/10

I was really looking forward to this and I think that it would have been great if the film-maker had taken the risk of making a single - or two - books of the series and then hoping it made enough locally and internationally to warrant sequels. As it was it felt like it was doing too much with too little time, it felt dragging and in the end I got little more than a terrific headache. Which is a pity because I really wanted to like this more than I did.There's a lot to love here though, the swordfighting with dagger in one hand and rapier in the other was a treat (not that much going around) but the duels went too fast - I suspect because they wanted to cover so much (TOO MUCH) ground. For example the assassination attempt on the two English adventurers could have been more drawn out, more tension could have been injected there. Not to mention when we find out who these are they could have made the connections with that other swashbuckler, the Three Musketeers as well as made more reference to English history for us non Iberian types. More could have been done with the campaign vs the French (this was the Cyrano period!) which could have also helped international audiences resonate.You didn't understand the motivation of the Dutch vs the Spanish either, the whole Dutch revolt, the religious issues, the political issues, etc. were not tackled at all, which is a pity as it would have been good to frame the action against the geopolitical situation (the ruthless mismanagement of the Duque de Alva and other issues that forced the Dutch hand) The issue of mercenaries of various countries and the type of warfare they had back then including the Tercios - we never really got to see the tercio in all its glory and see why it was, at that time, the most feared military organization in Europe. Ah to have seen a Spanish Tercio fight a Dutch battalion...But basically, too much to say, too little time, too shallow, too little real nuance, too rushed character development. This could have been the Sharpe of Spain, Capitan Alatriste and his merry band of rogues from book's one to five. Instead it's rushed, shallow and uneven execution leaves one exhausted and glad it's over. Capitan Diego de Alatriste deserved more.Viva Alatriste, Tom516