Customer Reviews

Alatriste [Theatrical Release]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Yesterday I was able to watch "Alatriste", at the avant premiére of this film in Argentina. The movie started way too late, but was well-worth waiting for. Agustín Díaz Yanes clearly succeeded in his filmic version of Pérez-Reverte's "Alatriste" series, offering the spectators the opportunity to witness the adventures of a soldier and his friends, and making us care for whatever happens to them.

The action is set in the early 17th century, mainly in Spain. The story is told in retrospective by Íñigo Balboa (Unax Ugalde), a young man that Diego Alatriste (Viggo Mortensen) took under his wing after the death of his father, an old comrade. Alatriste was a soldier that sometimes offered his sword for hire to those who could pay the price, and that lived a dangerous life, during the decline of the Spanish Empire.

This film lasts more or less two hours, but that is enough to learn about Diego Alatriste and Iñigo, the women they loved, and the dangerous lives they led. It is also quite interesting to watch Alatriste's Spain, and learn what was wrong with it, from the point of view of a simple soldier that nonetheless had lots of pride and a distinctive point of view regarding what was happening around him.

Pride, courage, friendship, love and treason are some of the themes that this film tackles, while telling us about Alatriste and his friend. I would like to point out that the cast did a wonderful, specially in the case of Viggo Mortensen as Alatriste, Unax Ugalde as Iñigo, Ariadna Gil as Alatriste's lover and Elena Anaya as Angélica, the young woman Iñigo loved with all his heart.

On the whole, I can say I really liked "Alatriste". It is the kind of outstanding movie that creates an atmosphere that leds you to believe someone has managed to find a way to bring the past back, and you are lucky enough the experience it. What more can you ask a movie for? Of course, highly recommended...

Belen Alcat

PS1: Bear in mind that "Alatriste" has some scenes with a lot of violence and some nudity, never gratuitous but not adequate for children.

PS2: I saw Viggo at the avant premiére, and I am pretty sure that the ladies will be glad to know that he is just as good looking in person as in the movies. What is more important, though, is that he was extremely polite, and with a seemingly never ending patience for signing autographs and letting fans take photos :)

Alatriste brings to the screen the story of a Spanish mercenary who made a name for himself fighting in the wars in the Netherlands in the first half of the 17th Century.
The film brings to the screen several stories, which are unfolding simultaneously: Firstly, Captain Diego Alatriste, and his turbulent life, secondly (and to a much lesser extent), Spain's involvement in the Netherlands and its steady decline, and thirdly the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants.
The movie sheds light on the intrigues of the Spanish court, and provides valuable insight into a very important period of Spanish (and European) History.
In addition, we get a taste (though a very light one) of 17th Century European politics.
Moreover, we get to see and hear about the infamous Spanish Holy Inquisition.
Viggo Mortensen (!!!), and the rest of the cast have truly outdone themselves with their performances, which are outstanding to say the least! All the actors, without exceptions, give it their 100% and it really shows!
The setting, the dialogues, and the costumes are all wonderful!
In a nutshell, though slow at times and difficult to follow, Alatriste will surely provide for an evening's entertainment!

I couldn't agree more with the first review. I loved the books and how exited was I to find out that my yearly trip to Madrid (coolest city in Europe) meant I could see the movie I was waiting for over a year now !

I loved it - however, too many battle scenes, not enough information on who, why and what and yes why is Angelica not blond ?? The end I found especially annoying... Viggo of course was fabulous - as always ;-)

Well worth seeing but, reading the books first is a must.

Manuela Rhea

I saw Alatriste at the Miami International Film Festival. I enjoyed it to the max - I must admit that I am a sucker for big, sprawling, historical films (loved Braveheart and Gladiator). To make my experience even better, I got to meet Viggo Mortersen, Ariadna Gil and the director of the film, in a Q&A session after the showing of the movie. The cast was superb (the best that Spain has to offer) and although it is a long film, it was well worth the time spent. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD (Region 1 and/or 4) One of my faves.

Have not seen much Spanish cinema nor much of Spanish History on the big screen but this film was enthralling. As with most good films you have to pay attention to all the subplots and characters. This is not your typical American blockbuster movie where you can sit back and let it wash over you! Costumes sets music all first rate - a very satisfying film and one I would watch again.

"Alatriste" stars Viggo Mortensen as the title role Diego Alatriste, a veteran soldier (and a hired assassin) in the service of Spanish King Philip IV. Known as "Capitan," Alatriste, always faithful to his duty, witnesses the slow fall and decline of the empire while he himself continues to fight in the battlefield. The film also includes a romance between the hero and a beautiful actress Maria de Castro (Ariadna Gil) as well as many battles and swordfights.

Set in the 17th century and based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte's best selling novels (five volumes so far), "Alatriste" is beautifully shot, but suffers the rushed pace and underdeveloped characters. Those who have knowledge of the Spanish history might feel differently, but to me the film's story unfolds too fast, sometimes leaping from one scene to another, giving almost no clue as to what really happened between them. The cast, all talented, do their best and deliver solid performances, but few of the characters are memorable.

"Alatriste" is said to be the most expensive film made in Spain and if you watch the film, you will not be surprised to hear that. The film is visually superb, with impressive production designs and costumes. Some of the film's images look as if taken directly from paintings (one scene recreates Diego Velázquez's "The Surrender of Breda" for instance). Also of note are the swordfights and battles depicted in the film, which give more emphasis to the brutality and violence of the fights. The swashbuckling in this film is not dancing; it means killing in the most brutal way.

"Alatriste" is not all that bad. It just needs much more time to be an emotionally involving film. I watched the 147 minute version (probably the original Spanish version) and it is still too short. It is quite regrettable.

This movie has a lot to recommend about it. It has a good cast, beautiful sets and imagery, a budget, and an unusual setting. I don't really know any Spanish actors outside of Javier Barden and Antonio Banderas neither of whom are in this, but all of the performances are quite good. Particularly good is Viggo Mortenson who can apparently speak Spanish fluently. Who knew? The budget is really on display here. There are some pretty impressive action scenes. I particularly love the little details like how the Spanish soldiers have to keep their fuses lit since they have to use them to fire their guns. The best part of the movie is undoubtedly the cinematography. The composition and layout of the shots imitate paintings from the period which makes for some beautiful still images.

Despite that it's not really a film I can recommend. While it seems to have all the right parts they never really come together properly. For example despite the good performances the characters are utterly undeveloped and change completely without any reason or motivation. I understand that this film is several books combined together and it shows. You can tell exactly when one book ends and another begins. This also means that there's no overarching plot throughout the movie but only a series of smaller incidents. For example, near the beginning of the film Alatriste is hired to kill two men who turn out to be the prince of England and his friend. Once he discovers this they never mention it again. Trying to keep up with what's going on is a constant effort and even when paying attention it is impossible to know why it's happening. What they should have done is pick one of these stories (they cover at least half a dozen) and spend the entire movie on it. By forcing them all together with no links they ruin any dramatic potential inherent in them. Because of this you never really care for (or understand) any of the main characters and you never really get a feel for the important events happening around them. So why I'd really like to give it a higher rating I cannot because it isn't really one coherent movie so much as several smaller ones. The second star is for the cinematography alone.

Very good film...what is the USA waiting for? I want to buy the dvd already!

"Alatriste", based on Arturo Perez-Reverte's five Capt. Alatriste novels, chronicles a number of the Captain's adventures, over the course of about 20 years. These include service in the Spanish army in Flanders and intrigues at home in Madrid. Captain Alatriste (Viggo Mortensen) is like a Spanish version of D'Artagnan, and this movie is set at approximately the same time as "The Three Musketeers", with many of the same historical figures throughout.

I have only read one of the Capt. Alatriste novels (the first one), and the problem with that novel was that there was too little material spread over too many pages. It was as if Perez-Reverte was holding back for the later novels in the series (he probably was). "Alatriste" the movie has the opposite problem. There is too much material condensed in to too little time. This 2 ½ hour movie is based on all five of the Alatriste novels and as a result the film flies through event after event, giving the audience little chance to become acquainted with the characters or to figure out what is going on. Even the first section of the film, which was based on the book that I had read, was hard for me to follow and by the end of the film, I couldn't figure out what was happening at all and didn't really care. Evidently much attention was paid to making this film as historically accurate as possible and many of the costumes and scenes look like something out of an old painting. However, that is not enough to sustain such a long film. At the time of writing this review, "Alatriste" is very difficult to obtain on DVD. Don't bother going to the expense and difficultly of digging it up.

A really slow-motioned biographical picture on less known outside Spanish-speaking sphere historical figures of the pre-Rembrandt 17th century world, broadens viewer's knowledge with depicting a gloomy dangerous existence in absolute monarchy-ruled places outside more described then England/France, from a time perspective questions very grounds of a moral and ethics based on traditional values.

Rather educative than entertaining work.