Highly Overrated But Still Good

Admirable film.

Absolutely Fantastic

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Labyrinth tells part of the story of one of the most horrific crimes in the Roman Catholic church's history - and there's plenty to select from. To this day, the mass-torture and murder of the Cathars is a piece of history of which many people are still unaware. It is maybe the first organized extermination of an entire culture and people by a merciless and repressive regime in Europe, centuries before the Nazis increased the number of people tortured and killed from many thousands to millions. As a Dutchman, I really only learned that the Dutch word for heretic, "ketter", derived from "Cathar".Also unknown to most, the Inquisition was specifically created to destroy the Cathars, who were a threat to the ultimate authority of both Church and Crown. In essence, it's the state and the church coming together to indulge in torture and mass-murder.The story employed by Labyrinth to expose the horror of the Cathar crusade and the murderers who lead it is contrived, and hard to take seriously. It's probably aimed at those that enjoyed the rip-off that was the Da Vinci Code (which is a rip-off from the book The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail) and might appeal to those who enjoy tripe like the recent Da Vinci's Demons.Having said that, I found most of the reviews here quite harsh. Labyrinth is a great looking piece of television, with an outstanding performance by Bernhard Schir, who plays the grim, murderous priest Paul Authie. In my view, his performance is on par with some of the best performances in e.g. the series Breaking Bad. John Hurt does a commendable if predictable job too - his character does not have that much range, but he extracts everything he can from this limitation and manages to inject emotion into a project which is is essentially a bit silly - if still entertaining.Maybe it is my interest in this specific piece of history, revisiting historic locations I've been to myself, like Carcassonne and the ruins of Montsegur. Maybe it is the cinematography or the gorgeous soundtrack (something very much lacking in most television). Or maybe it's just that the story of the Cathars has moved me since I learned of it, and I endorse any attempt to expose the evils done.Whatever the case, I greatly enjoyed Labyrinth, and its theme stuck with me after watching it.Recommended to those who are willing to look for a diamond in the rough, and can forgive the heavy-handedness resulting from people being invested in some truly epic and horrific historical storytelling.And, last but not least, recommended to everyone who needs a reminder of the evils of oppressive religion.N.B. I'm giving this a 10 to offset the equally unfair two's and three's. I rate this a 7 out of 10.

Love the Cathars, would be happy to have one for a neighbour. The concept of liberal Christians that believed in equality for all, accumulation of wealth was bad, sex was healthy and believed in reincarnation is very interesting. The fact that, in the 12/13th century, philosophically they were kicking the roman catholic churches butt says a lot. Tying that in with the holy grail and mixing it in with factual historical references gave this mini series a lot of scope. The reference to carrying our past with us in our blood is very reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Dune and the inference of a genetic memory.However, the heavy handedness of the direction and use of cliché characters and tropes that did not make sense left me squirming in my seat. Especially in part 1 and the end of part II in the medieval period it felt as if the Cathars had some rabid twitter account saying "Dear bad guys guys want to know all our secrets?....". Yes we know it's the good guys against the bad guys but how come the bad guys seem to know more about what their counterparts are doing than they do? Damn you twitter account!!! Speaking of which, I felt sorry for Katie McGrath who portrayed a cardboard cut out of her Morgana character in the Merlin series. She's a good looking woman and a fine actress but did she seriously have to lose her clothes so often? She was only one of many flat characters with trite dialogue. There is one scene where she can see someone shake his head in response to a question she asks when she is looking away from him. At this point I was also shaking my head as the dialogue/monologue leading up to this point felt like a quick fix to try to explain her motivation for being such a nasty piece of work and failing miserably.When it came to the end it felt that I had only seen half the production. It felt as if a whole group of scenes had been cut out and re-spliced leaving me trying to figure how we got to F from A without B, C, D and E. If I'm being kind I would like to think that due to external pressures that a real cracker of a production is out there waiting to be shown at a future date.As it was I found myself just becoming more frustrated as things made less and less sense. Even the role of the grail in the end becomes diminished except potentially as lesson teacher to humanity.On the plus side Jessica Brown Findlay playing the medieval heroine was the closest to a fully formed character in the whole story and I'd like to see her in more roles. Production was good especially in the medieval scenes and the filming felt clean and slick. I now feel enlightened as I've had a chance to meet the Cathars, not to be confused with the Kardashians. Giving it 5 out of 10 as I feel like I only saw half of what could have been.

I just finished watching the second episode and I couldn't wait for it to end. How John Hurt put his name to this I do not know. The other actors must've been hard up for work or Kate Moss is personal friends with all of them.The long, drawn out scenes are reminisce of American TV shows that use this ploy to make a show seem longer than it really is. The public is intelligent enough to fill in the gaps- really. But maybe it was made for American audiences. It's incredibly predictable and looks like they've used left over sets (and actors) from the Merlin TV series. The plastic chain mail is unconvincing but was forgiven in Merlin, which didn't take itself too seriously.Another component which I found irritating was the editing- extremely bad. The transitions between eras (and some scenes)is clumsy and this seems to be prevalent not only in TV shows these days, but major movies which seem to be rushed and slapped together.I honestly thought there would be a lot more depth to the plot than there was.VERY disappointing.

I've just watched the first part of the mini-series, which has saved me the trouble of buying the book because, to be frank, it's awful. The subject matter (search for the Holy Grail) is hackneyed. The plot (innocent blonde haunted by historical visions and drawn in to solve a mystery) is uninspired. The screenplay is unconvincing. The violence and nastiness is a sad reflection of society if this is what people call entertainment. There are acceptable ways to portray violence in a novel or on screen without losing dramatic impact. It's not easy; it requires skill. This production ignores skill and takes the easy option, i.e. in-your-face, shock-the-heck-out-of-the-audience brutality. If the production is a true reflection of the novel, then Mosse should be ashamed. If it isn't, then she should sue.