Customer Reviews

Code of the Templars

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The basic premiss is when the Templar Kinght's found the holy grail during the Crusades they fought over what to do with it and broke into two groups. Those who protected it and those who wished to use it's power. We find out that they are somehow related to Jesus himself and are almost immortal and still fighting for it in the present day. It reminds me of a 3 hour long spin off on HIghlander. All in all not a bad movie.

Synopsis: Two ancient sects, the Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion battle through the centuries for the control of the Holy Grail and other religious artifacts associated with Jesus. Now in the twentieth century a child is born that has blood ties to both warring factions. To which side does he owe his alligiance?

`Code of the Templars' is a veritable smorgasbord of conspiracy theories and grail legends, with a heavy dose of the Highlander series thrown in for good measure. Before the movie is over you'll uncover along with the Holy Grail, the tomb of Jesus, the Holy Shroud, the spear of Longinus and oddly enough the sword of William Wallace. The storyline borrows liberally from such well known films as; 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade', 'Excalibur' and 'Underworld' with maybe a little 'Romeo and Juliet'. However the real inspiration of this cinematic endeavor is definitely the old Highlander television series.

Negatives: One of the first things you'll notice is the dialogue is dubbed, not badly done but somewhat disconcerting here and there. It sounds stiff, distant and unemotional, reminiscent of an old Mario Bravo film from the '60's. The second major flaw is the soundtrack. The music is substandard to say the least and doesn't add anything to the mood or atmosphere of the film. The third and biggest dissapointment is the unoriginal, unsatisfying ending.

Postives: The acting is better than expected, a few of the performances are excellent in fact. My favorite role was the part of the main villain Ares Saintclair played by Oliver Masucci. Ares dresses in all black attire and drives a sleek black sports car adorned with the personalized lincense plate DEV 666, leaving no mistake as to which side of the battle between good and evil he belongs. Mirko Lang also gives a strong and likeable performance in the lead role of David and the very attractive Alicia Bachleda as his love interest Stella was also an added plus to the movie.

So if you're feeling nostalgic over the old Highlander series or love anything dealing with conspiracy theories, the Templars, Priory of Sion and religious sites and relics this is the film for you. Be forewarned, this European production from '06 runs an exhausting 194 minutes in length so if the subject matter is not your cup of tea don't bother.

This appears to be a TV series from europe tranfered to DVD as a movie for the US market. Intersting movie about the legend of the Knights of the Teplar that discovered the Holy Grail (in the tomb of Christ) and vowed to protect it forever. This is based on the Idea that a split occured between the Knight and two orders were created, both fighting over the centuries to get all of the relics of Christ, mainly the Holy Grail, source of unlimited power. The Templars hid the Grail to protect it from the other clan that wants to drink from it. In all, the film is mostly sword fights between the two groups, in a Highlander style killing process-off with their heads. Also, they are virtually invincable due to "the blood of Christ" in their veins, all are direct decendents from Jesus and Mary Magdalin. They can die, but it's difficult to kill them all. The main battle in this film, A young man born of a relationship between a man from the Templars and a woman of the other clan, supposedly a "chosen one" that would lead the bad clan to the Templars hidden grail. This series could have easily been done in less than 2 hours, but it just seemed to go on and on. Also, they mentioned the the original Knights were Monks...obviously that changed somewhere along the way if they have kids and offspring...let alone Women in the one clan. Some good action, just to much and too long. Rent it.

I really despise those reviews which totally bash a movie and I never thought I would write one, but this movie is the "Plan 9 From Outer Space" of Grail conspiracy material.

Don't expect anything realistic about the Knights Templar or the Priory of Sion. Don't expect anything realistic to the Holy Blood, Holy Grail theory. Don't EVEN begin to compare this movie with Highlander! I don't know what parts of the DaVinci Code or Angels and Demons they were working off of, but this movie will take you through both, but not exceptionally well.

Don't get me wrong, I love a fantasy adventure novel/movie, but there is the exigency for that brief air of believability.

I did not dwell on the brief moments of the English dubbing not matching the German mouthing. Too much of the rest of the movie kept me awestruck by the impalusibility and allowed my to devote three hours of my life to seeing what came next.

Sorry for being the curmudgeon, but don't waste your money on this DVD. Or rent it from the movie store. Or borrow it for free from the library.

While the premise sounds good, this movie ends up being nothing more than a pastiche of fantasy tropes, conspiracy cliches, underdeveloped points, plot holes, wooden acting and just plain silliness that goes on for waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay tooooooooooooooooo loooooooooooooong! Skip it. And I say that as a fan of fantasy tropes and conspiracy cliches. It's just not that good. Or any good. At all.

Though a work of fiction, this movie, despite being 3 hours, feels more like one because of the intensity of the plot, the quickly evolving dangers etc; this is one of those movies that could be sort of 'what if?' as far as the whole Masonic / Secret Society / Holy Grail genres are concerned. Much more well written and filmed than Dan Brown products, and the English dubbing couldn't have been done better (not that it matters; I speak German) but I have shown this movie to 4 friends now and they all agree - it's fantastic.

Good stuff: The bad guy, Ares had a cool car. Porsche 911 that he drove for all it was worth. David had a cute girlfriend who was a pretty good actress and had the patience of a saint. I guess you would need the patience of a saint to date this guy considering his heritage. Oh well. Mom kind of reminded me of Michelle Pfeiffer on a bad day, and I kept thinking that maybe she should switch dressmakers. Try Sears or Penneys or even Wal-Mart. The acting in this film was far better than I expected. There was lots of action and if you like gore, plenty of blood. And of course, Ares. How a kid raised in a monastery could not pick this guy out as not really a nice fellow is beyond me. His hair cut screamed anit-Christ and that car...Cool as it was, any black 911 with the license plate DEV 666 driven by the poster boy for what a satanist should look like, welllllll.... car Stuff that I didn't like: Liberties with history. I did pretty well in history both in college and high school and I could only cringe at some of the historical 'facts' used in this film. Severin, or whatever his name was. As the assistant to the assistant bad guy he was a washout. Hiding the HOly Grail in the catacombs under the Vatican. Basically they put a cloth over it with a big Templar emblem on it so no one would guess what it was or maybe do something really weird, like look under the cloth to see what was there. Anyway, I watched all 3 hours and some minutes of this and didn't feel ripped off, so I give it 3 stars as watchable if not great.

GENERALLY I HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT RENTING OR WATCHING A DUBBED FILM FOR VARIOUS REASONS. I WASN'T DISAPPOINTED WITH THIS THOUGH. THE DUBBING IS EXCELLENT, THE ACTORS ARE TALENTED, AND THERE'S NO SHORTAGE OF ACTION.