Stockholm Bloodbath

Irreverent historical adventure that in its 2.5hr director’s cut, struggles to balance a wealth of historical context and political subplots with slickly edited set pieces and split-screen montages. I get the sense the theatrical version might work better as a straight ahead, action-oriented film of ****** revenge.

Despite tonal divergence, the film remains completely committed to its style of storytelling, as does an interestingly mixed cast of Scandinavian and English actors, of which Emily Beecham and Sophie Cookson (who should be feasting on Keira Knightley scraps) are the stand outs. There’s also Claes Bang giving his best audition for an English-language, live-action Asterix and Obelix villain. He’s so much fun,

The kind of film that would’ve got a wide release and possibly been a sizable hit had it come out long ago somewhere between In the Name of the Rose and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.

5 stars for the slipcover.

Got it on sale, good.

A mixed bag where the style and modernisms injected into will sometimes lead to fun and energetic sequences, and at other times feel like a desperate attempt to appeal to the "youts" to pay attention to a historical tale and jettisons you out of the story. It delivers strong action scenes at least and it's held together admirably by its three female leads that manage to give it an air of class.

This movie cannot decided between being a loosely historical account or comedy, I watched the directors and the movies dragged on and on. I feel if they picked a lane I would have enjoyed it more.

Hugely appreciated this oy. Very enjoyable.