Pretty Good

Excellent adaptation.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Watching this took me back twenty years in a heartbeat. From that first scene, as the mobile phone goes off. You'd always have something wrong with the otherwise impressive shield wall.... Dayglow orange flashes on the shield, the bloke with the trainers....The Viking wedding, shown in flashback, with Barbara (Anne Reid) looking very awkward. Um, yes. Remember that one.But really, this is about the ability (or lack) of people to change. Richard (Eddie Marsan) is too busy being what what he's been for probably twenty years. As Cath (Jessica Hynes) tells him, he's too busy being Julian's (Ewen Bremner) best mate, and as Julian still lives with his mum... Cath on the other hand gives the appearance of having moved on from battle re-enactments, though its more she got fed up of being turned into a camp follower.We follow through Richard's painful process of attempts to win Cath back, as he tries to go back to when they met, tries to spy out the opposition - Gary the PE teacher (Paul Nicholls), tries to challenge him to single combat, and then misses son Martin's (Joseph Hamilton) play. At the same time, Julian is trying to socialise online with fellow Trekkies, setting up a disastrous meeting with Kim (Matthew Leighton), but accidentally meeting Maggie (Bronagh Gallagher) in the process.Caught in the middle is Martin, bullied at school, falling for Emily (Chloe Hesar) in the process, getting fed up with his dad's obsessions, but ultimately pushing him to the exact place he needs to be.It all comes together in the final section, with a great battle against the rival battle group of Normans, where Gary turns up, finally humiliated in a one-to-one combat with Richard. The overall story arc is predictable, but the journey is well plotted, scripted and for some of us, squirmingly funny to watch.Let's have more of these!

OK, so the plot is on the predictable side, and doesn't really go anywhere that you wouldn't expect. Nor does this film have any profound message. In fact, it's a piece of lighthearted fluff.But the acting is very good (particularly the debutants), and the re-enactment characters are so well drawn that I found myself squirming for large parts of the film. For I actually do swing a sword around for a hobby, and I even know one or two of the folks in the background. My hat comes off to the writers - their characterisations of some of the people one meets in the "scene" is terrifyingly accurate. Yes, these people are really out there...SPOILER. One part of the film departs from any "reality" (reality whilst playing 'cowboys and indians with swords... hmmm). At the end of this film the antagonist (a non re-enactor) is handed a sword and encouraged to duel for the affections of the leading lady. I would just like to re-assure everyone out there that... no damn chance. No way is anyone handed a sword and allowed to fight for real. We have a little too much respect for our skins than that. It's a small quibble, but it does make the "scene" appear a touch more lunatic than it actually is (although the fact that the antagonist, holding a sword for the first time, outfights the 'trained' hero did make me smile). Of course, I do understand the sequence for dramatic purposes (although I'd have found it better if Jessica Hynes had fought for herself).As for the comedy... well, the owl wins hands down, both whilst alive and during it's ship burial.

This looks so awesome, I can't wait to get it on DVD. It was shot in my school, last year, though sadly whilst we were all on our summer holidays, so no one was around to mess it up. Apparently our school was chosen "because it looked the most stereotypically school-like." It's so weird seeing actors using our uniforms in the adverts. Some of my friends were extras, too. If you type in Faintheart on Youtube, you get up slide-shows of them with the actors, which is really great. So as well as it being a great film to look out for, it's going to be like a sort of school memento. The whole school is pretty much going to see it screened at the local Vue, if it's chosen to be shown here. How many people can say they've had a film shot at their school? Sort of makes you wish you took drama...~Jessbinx

I saw the premiere of this film last night at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It was absolutely brilliant! If you like British films where the underdog makes you go "aww..." then see this film, you won't be disappointed. The young lad who plays the son of the hero of the piece is a brilliant young actor, the fact that I can't recall his name is no reflection on how good he was (I'm just really bad at remembering names). Ewen Bremner was excellent, as usual...as was Jessica Hynes. The film is also memorable for a selection of the crappiest looking cars you'll have seen in a while. The hero's C-reg Volvo estate car is just fantastic. And as for the soundtrack...I'd forgotten how much I used to like Saxon. Support the British film industry, when they produce wee gems like this it would be rude not to.