The Reckoning (2004)
I reckon it's a pretty decent movie.
Not perfect but certainly nowhere near as awful as
the trailer for the film would have you believe. And
more than anything else in "The Reckoning," Paul Bettany
is the reason to see the film.
Bettany plays a monk who, as the
film goes on, reminds us very much of his Geoffrey
Chaucer character in "A Knight's Tale." Commanding,
vibrant and intelligent, Bettany's monk and Chaucer
(the character) demand your attention when they are
on the screen. And Bettany steals the movie here with
talent like Willem DaFoe, Brian Cox and Vincent Cassell
by his side and hotties like Tom Hardy and Stuart
Wells in the background. That's no small feat.
Directed by Paul McGuigan, who previously
conducted Bettany in "Gangster #1," the film hardly
seems a likely follow-up from the director of that
film and "The Acid House." Yet McGuigan doesn't really
make any mistakes here even moving to a historical
time setting. The script by Mark Mills, from a novel
called "Morality Play" by Barry Unsworth, isn't perfect
but overall the film expands as it unfolds and has
enough interesting ideas to keep us involved. Mills
has to shorthand a couple of major plot points here,
including DaFoe's character's ideology, but these
potholes only distract momentarily.
One of the biggest problems of the
film, however, is Mark Mancina's awful score which
calls attention to itself at every turn. Full of flowery
harp strumming and overwrought melodramatics at the
most obvious times, this score only serves to take
the viewer out of the film. Thank God Bettany pulls
us back in so easily.
I'm not a big fan of historical
dramas set prior to the 20th century. Life before
modern conveniences is really difficult to capture
in a realistic way on film. This film, like most others
set in ancient times, has some things wrong and some
things correct. But the themes and ideas of the film,
as it is mainly about the power of the truth, make
for a quite effective and engrossing story leaving
the verisimilitude to be pondered later.
And, as time will surely tell, "The
Reckoning" will eventually be considered yet another
indicative, early film from an actor who will assuredly
in the near future is to become one of the most respected
and popular performers of all time.
Notes:
Also with Ewen Bremner (who was
also in "The Acid House.")
The film was at one time entitled
"Morality Play."
Viewed in Austin in March 2004 at
a sneak preview at the Arbor Theater that was hosted
by the Austin Film Festival. Someone from the festival
named Paul did an intro to the film, which was of
course mainly a plea to join the film festival and
give them some money, that went on much too long.
But, I must say, it was the most concise, cohesive
and assured intro before a sneak preview that I've
ever witnessed.
