Set in 1348 in an England being decimated by the plague that was known as the ‘black death’ we see a young monk, Osmond (Redmayne). Interestingly, neither IMDB nor Wikipedia lists their budget. I am assuming that the DVD sales will up their take. But looking at the box office returns from their opening weekend, it appears that audiences did not share the critics feelings about the film. The film opened to positive reviews and Rotten Tomatoes gave it a “certified fresh” rating. The message that director Smith is apparently sending is that people react the same way to terrible events whether they are in days of ‘olde’ or now. It is an incredibly bleak film for all it’s big name cast and crew. With a pedigree this impressive it seems like Black Death could deliver entertainment in spades and it does. Written by Dario Poloni (the man who penned the brilliant film Wilderness) and directed by Christopher Smith ( Severance, Triangle, Creep) and staring Sean Bean ( Black Death, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy), Eddie Redmayne ( The Good Shepard, My Week with Marilyn), Carice van Houten ( Repo Men, Intruders), John Lynch ( The Secret Garden, Sliding Doors), and Tim McInnerny ( Severance, Notting Hill). Overall, Black Death is pretty gruesome stuff with some brutal swordfights and death scenes and a story that doesn’t go the way you expect the cast are all great too with Eddie Redmayne’s Osmund a more complex character than you’d first expect.Black Death (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The way the story ends was not what I expected and rather downbeat but it really worked and Osmund’s transformation from man of God to monster is believable. Like I said, it’s not exactly a fun watch but it captures the spirit of the time well and it feels authentic with lots of dead bodies lining the streets so you can practically smell the death flesh. The cast are all excellent and I especially enjoyed Tim McInnerny a villainous role I’m so used to seeing him as Lord Percy from Black Adder so seeing him in a more menacing role was quite the revelation. There are no noticeable special effects so it’s rather low-key but it works for this type of tale. There is no humour whatsoever in this dark tale but with a title like Black Death I wasn’t exactly expecting You’ve Got Mail (more like You’ve Got the Plague). We get to know each member of the group although I would have liked a little more time with them to genuinely care what happened to them.Įach man’s faith (and will) is tested on this perilous journey and its foreshadowed early on that if Osmund embarks on this quest he will return a changed man. So far, it doesn’t sound like much of an action movie but there is plenty of bloodshed and limb chopping for all the family throughout.īlack Death is also a men-on-a-mission movie with this ragtag group of warriors (and Eddie Redmayne’s monk) going on a quest to a mysterious village that remains untouched by the plague.
It’s essentially a tale of religious fanaticism with Sean Bean willing to kill for his God and Eddie Redmayne a more gentle person who believes you can still be loyal to God while having relations with a woman. The cast includes Sean Bean and Eddie Redmayne who never disappoint and this is dark and grim stuff. Review: I picked this up on Blu-ray from my local dollar store for 3 bucks last week so I had minimal expectations but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of Black Death. Along the way, the group encounters unimagined darkness. Osmund agrees, but he has an ulterior motive–to find Averill (Kimberley Nixon), a young woman who has gone missing. Plot: During the time of the bubonic plague in 14th-century England, young monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) is recruited by the knight Ulric (Sean Bean) to lead a group of soldiers through the marshes into a mysterious village, where rumors are spreading that a necromancer is raising plague victims from the dead. Worth a rental as you likely wouldn’t watch it more than once. Black Death is a dark tale which essentially leaves you with nothing but the cast are game and there’s no shortage of brutality.
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