Sunday, April 29, 2012
Black Death (2010)
Few sights are as sick as some bigot spouting
off about the evil of Islam, as they uphold the Christian Church as the Shining
Symbol of Humanity. They should watch “Black Death,” a grisly horror-thriller
about the mid-1300s Black Plaque that ravaged Europe. The power-mad Church
calls the plague God’s punishment against the unfaithful, and the only way back
to His (its) grace is absolute submission. (Sound familiar?) Eddie Redmayne
plays a naïve monk conflicted about his oath to God who travels with several Christian
soldiers to hunt an untouched village, for it must hold sinners. Director Christopher Smith and writer Dario
Poloni don’t go simple, for that village has a blood thirst greater than the Church.
Sean Bean is the head Soldier of Christ, and his demise is one for the Sean
Bean Movie Death record books. Too bad Redmayne is so boyish he makes Tin-Tinseem like Jason Statham and fails huge at the darkest scenes that end this
blackest of tales. Smart, tense, and wide-open as the similar-themed “Season ofthe Witch” is dull, dumb and CGI’d to hell, “Death” coolly reminds us that Men
of God are rarely ever that. B
Labels:
14th century,
2010,
Black Death,
blasphemy,
Christianity,
Christopher Smith,
church,
Dario Poloni,
Eddie Redmayne,
Europe,
God,
murder,
religion,
Sean Bean
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