Ever partial to a bit of swords and sorcery, I recently found myself sharing a beer and a couch with a like-minded buddy, whilst taking in The Sword of Xanten.
PLOT
Things start pretty well for our hero, Siegfried, who goes from simple blacksmith to a Queen-bedding, dragon-slaying, nigh on invincible hero of Burgund in short order. However, things are about to get complicated and less than pleasant for our brash young hero. Having slain the dragon Fafnir and thus ingratiated himself with King Gunther, not to mention his comely sister Kriemhild, Siegfried finds himself with a serious horde of treasure at his disposal. That may not sound so bad, but the treasure is the cursed treasure of the Nibelungs. An informative ghost is good enough to warn Siegfried of this fact, but the warning falls on deaf ears.
Thus Siegfried finds himself in an ever more tangled skein of plots by those seeking the gold (the Kings advisor Hagan and a mysterious vagranty chap called Alberich), those seeking his heart (Queen Brunnhild of Iceland whom he *ahem* met earlier, and Kriemhild of Burgen) and those seeking the heart of his true love Brunnhild (King Gunther). So will it all turn out badly for Siegfried, as prophesied by the ghost? You'll have to watch to find out.
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
The film is based on the Germanic epic poem The Neibelungenlied, or Song of the Nibelungs, which has been refered to as 'the German Illiad'. The poem is in turn based on pre-Christian Germanic heroic motifs including word-of-mouth tales of events and characters from the 5th and 6th centuries. Apparently the same poem was the inspiration for Wagners opera cycle Ring of the Nibelungs (Der Ring des Nibelungen), which I've also heard cited as the inspiration for Tolkiens Lord of the Rings.
Not bad for an old German poem!
CAST & CHARACTERS
Siegfried - Benno Furmann Brunnhild - Kristanna Loken Kriemhild - Alicia Witt King Gunther - Samuel West Hagan - Julian Sands Alberich - Sean Higgs Eyvind - Max von Sidow
There are, no doubt, a few names you recognise there, but who'se this Furmann fellow? I'm lead to believe he's fairly big in Germany, which is apt given that he's a fairly big German! He does a good job a Siegfried, looking the part of the beefy, dashing hero with more acting ability than your average hero from this type of affair. Kristanna Loken looks great as Brunnhild and does a fine job playing the fierce and proud monarch. On the other hand, Alicia Witt, whilst absolutely looking the part of a princess of old, is rather less convincing in her portrayal Kriemhild. To be fair though, she wasn't so bad that it detracted or was really glaring, just not as good as the rest.
As for those who did rather better, Julian Sands was his sinister best as Hagan. Sands really knows how to play a villain, but whilst the dyed black hair and goatee may have been required for the role, I felt the scar on his cheek was over the top. To me, is seemed to ham-up the character as a villain so stereotypical that I almost expected him to start stroking a cat whilst plotting to release sharks with lasers on their heads into the Rhine! I won't fault his acting though; the guy is good. I've not heard of Samuel West before, but he has a fair old list of acting credits to his name and is apparently quite well regarded. He certainly did well here and had more than a touch of Kiefer Sutherland about him, which can't be a bad thing. Certainly his look and tone aided his portrayal of Gunther as a king who is essentially good and noble, but with a hard edge.
I'm biased because I love the guy, but I'll go right ahead and say that the legendary Max von Sydow is perfect as Eyvind! The wise, kindly but actually pretty hard Eyvind could have been written as the perfect character for von Sydow, who appears not to have been slowed down by his 70 odd years. It's hardly surprising that he was eminently believable as the big old Germano/Scandinavian guy, given that he actually is one!
MY OPINION
Director Uli Edel has done a good job on the whole. It's slightly odd that the film is split into two 1 hour 30ish chunks, especially as the first half ends abruptly to say the least, but at least it gives you a chance to get a brew or take a lav break, if you're so inclined. The whole thing has the feel of a much larger story condensed so as to fit. It left me wondering how much they had to cut out to make it possible to fit the story in one film. I suspect it could have been truly epic if they'd turned it into a mini-series or something. Anyway, the story is strong and it rattles along at a fair old pace, never less so than in the latter stage of the first 'half' of the film, where it did feel slightly rushed.
It's clear that the budget was some way less than blockbuster, but they've done a sterling job with what they had. The CGI is actually pretty good, although the flame effects from Fafnir leave a bit to be desired. It speaks highly of the effects that I didn't realise quite how much of the film is CGI until I watched the behind the scenes featurette (of which, more later). In fact, they worked wonders given they budget they were working on.
On the whole, it's a very enjoyable swords and sorcery jaunt. It's of a much higher quality than many fantasy films I've seen and the strong story and emotional side of things (if not the well muscled Mr Furmann) means that long-suffering girlfriends may be more inclined to sit through it that many a lesser contemporary. On the other hand, any long suffering boyfriends of fantasy fans may well be appeased by the easy-on-the-eye misses Loken and Witt!
BONUS FEATURES
I watched the 2 disk edition and it must be said that the second disk seems slightly unnecessary, but perhaps the length of the film meant there wasn't enough room on the first disk. Either way, the reasonably long looking list of featurettes is really one 50 odd minute featurette chopped in to bits, but viewable as a whole. It's not a bad behind-the-scenes featurette actually. It takes the form of interviews with the cast, director Uli Edel and his producers. It gets a bit cringworthy in the sections where the cast are gushing about the co-stars, but there's plenty of information about the legends, the story itself, characters and production.
The second disk also contain trailers for other films, so you don't have to watch them before the main feature. I don't recall there being an optional commentary, but if there was I certainly didn't watch it; does that make me a bad reviewer?
ANYTHING ELSE?
If I didn't make it clear above, the running time a whiff over 3 hours (190 minutes to be precise). It's rated 12, which is about right because there's a fair bit of violence (though very little blood or gore), a dragon capable of scaring the very young (or pathetic) and a flash of side-boob from Miss Loken. In fact, if you pause it just at the right point you can just about see... erm... how would I know? I didn't do that... honest.
PRICE
You can pick a brand new copy of this little beauty up for £3.97 from amazon and probably a little less if you shop around. For a used copy, you're probably looking at a couple of quid - bargainous!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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