Product Details

• Actors: Viggo Mortensen, Elena Anaya, Unax Ugalde, Eduardo Noriega, Eduard Fernandez
• Directors: Agustin Diaz Yanez
• Format: NTSC, Import, Widescreen, Dolby, Subtitled, Dubbed
• Subtitles: English, Portuguese
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000YI7MRM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,754 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Description: Viggo Mortensen leads an all-star cast in this swashbuckling period drama - the story of Diego Alatriste, a former soldier and mercenary who becomes a hero of Spain's 17th century Imperial wars. The most expensive Spanish-language film ever made based on the wildly popular novel series by Arturo Pérez Reverte. 17th century imperial Spain under the reign of Philip IV, a weak and easily manipulated monarch dominated by a corrupt and intrigue-ridden court, the head of which is the influential Count-Duke Olivares. Intrigue and betrayal, duels and battles, love and hatred set the stage for the adventures of Captain Alatriste. In His Majesty's service, a proud soldier in Flanders and in times of peace, a hired sword in Madrid and Seville. He wasn't the most virtuous of men, nor the most devout, but he was a man of valour. His name was Diego Alatriste! Alatriste is in love with the beautiful María de Castro, the most famous actress of her time. Compelled to fulfil the final wish of his dying friend, Alatriste makes his way back to Spain to care for the man's young son Iñigo. Alatriste attempts to safeguard Iñigo both from a military career and from the Machiavellian woman he loves, the sweet and disturbing Angelica Alquézar. SINOPSIS: En la España Imperial del siglo XVII, Diego Alatriste, valeroso soldado al servicio de su majestad, combate en las frías tierras de Flandes. En la España del siglo XVII, el capitán Diego Alatriste combate en la fría región de Flandes en una emboscada de los Holandeses. Cuando su amigo Balboa cae herido de muerte Alatriste le promete cuidar a su hijo, Iñigo. Un mercenario y Alatriste son contratados para darle fin a dos extranjeros misteriosos. En el ultimo momento, presiente que algo anda mal y decide no cumplir el encargo para llegar al fondo del asunto pero encontrara a un una red de conspiracion y a un enemigo demasiado poderoso para su espada.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a little disappointed, December 26, 2007

By 

John L. Bower (Indianapolis, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alatriste [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America] (DVD)

After waiting for several years to see this movie I am a little disappointed, but I was expecting to be. I love the books, those released in English, despite what I suspect to be problems with the translations. And I was very excited to hear about the movie and thought Viggo Mortenson would be great as Captain Alatriste. And he is.

The fact that it was not released in North America on either movie screens or DVD prepared me for a less than perfect movie.

Visually, the movie looks good. The actors and costumes are just as I imagined the characters to be as are the settings and set decoration. However, the film makers tried to cram too much into it leaving a disjointed mess. The Alatriste books are rather thin on plot, but if one book does not a movie make, trying to film all of them does not work either. I am not interested in a slavish recreation of the books. But in trying to cram in so much, they have also left out too much.

A movie based on the first two books would have been suffcient.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 17th c Spain brought to life in a gorgeous production, but not recommended to fans of the novels, October 11, 2009

By 

Penumbra (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alatriste [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America] (DVD)

"Alatriste" is an epic film from Spain dealing with the life and adventures of Captain Diego Alatriste, a soldier during Philip IV's reign.

The movie tries to cover the events set forth in five of Arturo Pérez-Reverte's novels about the Captain in a mere 145 minutes. I've only read two books in the series. Where the film dealt with events in the books I knew, it came across as a painfully abbreviated Cliffs Notes version of the source material. Once it moved into unfamiliar territory, I enjoyed it more.

I think "Alatriste" will be enjoyed most by viewers completely unfamiliar with the books. Taken on its own the film is an entertaining, if slightly confusing, swashbuckler. Although there are plenty of thrilling battle scenes and duels, this isn't a simple action picture; some knowledge of 17th century Spanish history will certainly help the viewer understand the major plot points.

This was the most expensive movie ever produced in Spain, and the money spent on it shows in the final product. The production is first rate, with an excellent cast headed by Viggo Mortensen as Alatriste. The costumes and sets are exceptional, and the cinematography gives the film an atmosphere reminiscent of a fine old painting.

Fans of the books will be disappointed. "Alatriste" would have been improved by devoting the entire film to the events of just the first book. Or, the Spanish producers could have taken a page from the Hollywood play book and given us a series of sequels. There is certainly enough interesting material in the books to sustain several movies.

The Fox International DVD (Regions 1 and 4) has scene selection and features language tracks in either Spanish (Castellano) or Portuguese; subtitles are available in English or Portuguese.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too Much Going On, September 20, 2009

By 

Gary Cohn "wordslinger" (New York City, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alatriste [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America] (DVD)

The Alatriste books are wonderful, amazing historical recreations, brilliantly plotted and intricate mysteries. I had high hopes for this movie, which clearly had a substantial budget. Viggo Mortensen is perfectly cast as Alatriste. However, the filmmakers erred by trying to compress the entire series into one movie. It plays like an outline or summary. There is little character development and less coherency. A much better approach would have been to focus only on the first novel and produce a faithful adaptation. Even if Mortensen (or funding) proved unavailable for sequels, that would have been a far more satisfying movie.

All this being said, the movie looks great. I believed I was looking at early 17th century Spain (and Flanders). I believed that the characters represented authentic types. As a fencer, I was less pleased with the fight scenes, which mostly seemed rushed and perfunctory and not convincingly choreographed.

Recommendation: See it for the recreation of Spain as it began to decline from its peak of glory, and for Viggo Mortensen wearing one of the great movie moustaches of all time. Just don't expect greatness.