Arn - Tempelriddaren (2007)

Director: Peter Flinth

Cast: Joakim Nätterqvist as Arn Magnusson, Sofia Helin as Cecilia Algotsdotter, Stellan Skarsgård as Birger Brosa, Milind Soman as Saladin, Simon Callow as Father Henry, Vincent Perez as Brother Guilbert, Bibi Andersson as Mother Rikissa, Michael Nyqvist as Magnus Folkesson, Fanny Risberg as Cecilia 'Blanka' Ulfsdotter, Jakob Cedergren as Ebbe Sunesson, Nicholas Boulton as Gerard De Ridefort, Steven Waddington as Grandmaster Torroja, Frank Sieckel as Sigfried De Turenne, Alex Wyndham as Armand De Gascogne, Gustaf Skarsgård as King Knut Eriksson

Sweden in the 1100's is the backdrop for the troubled love story
between nobleman boy-turned monk-turned-knight templar Arn and
neighboring girl Cecilia- before he is sent off to Jerusalem in the
crusades and she into a convent- plus the rivalling royal clan
struggles for power in the nation. I haven't read the bestselling books
which this is based on, and knowing this is a part-saga and soon
TV-series to be, I can somewhat overlook the gaps in storytelling.

What I do enjoy is a sound, intriguing (especially the scheming between
the church and royal clans) and reliable medieval tale- with heavy
doses of romance, monastery/convent dramatics and a little touch of
"Kingdom of heaven"- battling in the end- that unfortunately never
quite peaks. As a cinephile Swede, I know the country's market a bit,
and notice that the filmmakers are SO focused on keeping a safe, steady
course not to fail with such a big production ship like this, that they
end up with no real climactic cinematic highlights to speak of. Rougher
camera-work and sets might've heightened things a bit?

For that reason it's very evenly paced, never boring and quite nicely
produced. But with a major flaw: Arn remains very stiff and sketchy as
an adult character. We never personally get to know him (he has SO few
lines!) as to really understand why Cecilia loves him.

All in all, 6 out of 10 from Ozjeppe