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75By removing elements of magic and operatic excess from the story, the brothers Scott focus on what is, underneath, a story as tragic (and less contrived) as the one cited in the ads, "Romeo and Juliet."
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75There's something beautiful about a well-made tragic love story. It may not be as uplifting as one with a happy ending, but it's more cathartic.
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75Tristan & Isolde isn't a ground-breaking film in any way, but even though the story is familiar and even if you don't like romances, good casting, an able director, and notable cinematography draw you in to the fairy tale feeling of long ago and far away. Pass the popcorn.
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70This "Tristan" has its slightly silly moments, but rather like those fondly remembered epics of Hollywood past, its energy and entertainment value carry the day.
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70This understated period drama may lack sufficient star power and emotional wallop to score breakthrough success with mainstream auds during its domestic theatrical run, but pic could find a warmer response in the same international markets where "Kingdom of Heaven" redeemed itself last year.
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67Working with an explanatory script by Dean Georgaris, Reynolds is much more confident in scenes of realistic battle, or even muddy marketplace dailiness, than he is with scenes of desire.
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63Deadly serious, straightforward and surprisingly entertaining tragedy.
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63Franco, the hollow-cheeked, pouty-lipped actor best known as Spider-Man's nemesis Harry Osborn, plays Tristan like a biker boy with a broadsword.
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63Director Kevin Reynolds isn't so much inspired as determined to tell it with period accuracy, without bothering to be historically accurate.
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63James Franco is a gorgeous, smoldering lover in Tristan & Isolde, but you can't help being reminded of Ben Stiller's "Zoolander" character.
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60It is a noble aim, and Reynolds drenches his movie in earthy, muddy tones.
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60The film's one indisputably great performance comes from Sewell, whose Marke is no mere cuckold, but a good, honorable man caught up in circumstances beyond his ken, and ultimately this Tristan & Isolde's most tragic figure.
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60Just as there is something undeniably pleasant about an entertainment like Tristan & Isolde that delivers exactly what it promises, no less, no more.
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60Director Kevin Reynolds strikes a good balance between action and romance in this version of the medieval legend, but his leading man is upstaged by the supporting cast.
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58As it progresses it becomes a sloppy mix of modern and antique, and the limits of its lead actors and its script become evident.
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58With Tristan & Isolde, the core must be a passion that enlarges two outsize characters and seems as momentous as the rise and fall of a kingdom. Too bad this film's Achilles' heel is its heart.
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50A feeble medieval epic with a lackluster romance at its center.
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50Mindless, predictable and mildly entertaining.
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50It's that rare movie that had me wishing I was at the opera.
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50When it comes to retelling the tale of Tristan and Isolde, give us a movie that makes love. Or even a movie that makes war. Anything, just anything, but a movie that makes nice.
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How strange it is to see a film that's supposed to be all about the burning passion and unquenchable exhilaration of true love, and yet is rather passionless and unexhilarating.
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50In the end, the filmmakers strike a bad bargain between action and myth: In their obvious attempt to shoo everyone into the tent--romantic and roughneck alike--they don't serve either end of the spectrum very well.
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50If I had to sum up Tristan & Isolde for a term paper, I'd say it's like "Braveheart" without the face paint, "Shrek," except the Lord Farquaad character is a sweetheart, and "Freaks and Geeks" because James Franco is so hot, even in Orlando Bloom-y ringlets.
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42Moves so sluggishly that someone must have been dosing the cast and crew with Nyquil.
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Tristan & Isolde makes sacking and pillaging about as exciting as the line at the post office.
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38Franco can be exhilarating in movies -- tremulous, unhinged, a little wild. Here his jaw never stops quivering and his eyes stay welled up, advertising a breakdown that never comes. Not that Myles has a presence a man would fall apart over. She's too professional to drive anybody crazy.
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30Takes an unimaginative love story and stretches it as far as possible in an attempt to make it epically grand. Instead, the end result plays out like a George Lucas film without spaceships and lightsabers.
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Myles deserves better, but acquits herself as admirably as one can mired in medieval muck.
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25Everything connected with the lovers, who are the point of the movie, is either ordinary or unwittingly funny, and the laughs come early.
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20Screenwriter Dean Georgaris gets a hell of a pass here – the story is canon, and, in terms of emotional wallop, does all the heavy lifting for him – but he still manages to gunk up the works with dialogue that is dull-witted at best and outright howling at its worst.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 17 out of 17
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Mixed: 0 out of 17
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Negative: 0 out of 17
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MichalF.10Wonderful music, great history, very good acting, I'm in love with this movie.
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[Anonymous]8
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PatC.6