Alatriste (2006)

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

My goodness. How the producers of this film could dare to slap our faces so hardly. Seriously. Apart from the fact that it can be single-handed the most painfully watching experience that i've ever had, there is nothing to remember about this film. Quite the opposite, actually. Or not. It's badness transcended the levels of the acceptable to any human stand through, so it maybe had hurt my brain and left in it forever a scar that will always remember me how was hard and painfully to watch this abomination.The plot is awful,awful,awful. It has no signs of any connection between the events which pops out at every two minutes in the film.The plot also don't has a premise, and even less a definite direction. It don't has any objectives. Pointless, in other words. The story makes no sense, the character development is non-existent.. Yeah. This, is in a short resume, a film totally slow and with almost two hours of pointless scenes which leads to nothing. And again, non- sense. I can't think in anything worse than a boring and nonsense film.A good thing about this film would be the cinematography. It's great, really very good, it inspiration in baroque paintings is evident. But even the cinematography is a bit messed. The lightning sometimes don't correspond to the ambient. Being said, this film is so atrocious that nothing can't save it,anyways.Do yourself a favor and avoid this film, unless if you want to appreciate the good cinematography of the film. If that is the case, just watch a few scenes.2.6/10

I've read every single book of Arturo Perez Reverte's novel and when I noticed there all them will resume in just one movie I was afraid of the results. To those who haven't read imagine Peter Jackson would have made just one move instead of the trilogy. The result is obviously wouldn't have been the same.Apart this I wanted to watch it cause so far is been the most expensive movie ever made in Spanish history (around 32$ millions) and wanted to see what we are capable of. It seems we have to improve a lot. Actors are great, the portrayal of Madrid in the 16th century is amazing (for a Spanish movie). Although I missed more open shots or panoramic which could show us Madrid more detailed Madrid. As the 5 novels are concentrated in 120 min sometimes is difficult to follow the plot or it lost strengh. Casting is OK but I think it could have been better with less well known Spanish actors as some of them have just 5 lines and I start to understand were all that budget went to.In conclusion it's a watchable but obviously is not a piece of art. As a first attempt for the Spanish industry to make an epic and a worldwide known movie is a so-so beguining. Hopefully it will improve next time. It will keep you entertained but don't expect high heroic deeds. 6/10

Great acting and atmosphere. But somewhere the story got lost. It does feel like 5 books was made into one movie. Which, I believe is what happened here. What a stupid idea! Maybe it's easier to follow for those who have read the books. Despite that, everything else is excellent. Viggo Mortensen is superb. And since I don't speak Spanish, I don't care if his accent may be a bit wrong.Would certainly have been even better in a theater, but it was direct to DVD. That was a shame, too.I give this a 7. With a coherent story it could have been a 10.

"Alatriste" is a masterpiece that will undoubtedly be misunderstood for years to come...though set in the same period as the more familiar and light-hearted "Three Musketeers", it is one of the few films that realistically portrays life in that era. This is a much darker view of the age: only the wealthy elite live well, and the degree to which others toady to them is the degree to which they too, will live well and succeed. Justice is rare; starvation and poverty, religious fanaticism is rife. Spain, the great power of Europe, is well on the road to economic collapse after years of squandering its wealth and manpower in costly wars under the weak and incompetent Hapsburg monarch Felipe IV. Its valiant surviving veterans like Alatriste are given nothing but the proud but empty title of hidalgo and are reduced, if not to begging, to hiring themselves out for private vendettas and treacherous assassinations plotted by one or another vicious "noble" faction, thus incurring the enmity of another faction. This is not your usual flamboyantly flimsy swashbuckler, but a grim and gritty picture of the near destitute and perilous life of a soldier who must support himself as best he can with the only skills he has as a mercenery for hire in civilian life. This is more of a film depicting the specific problems of life in this period and setting than it is about a story plot; it is a profound meditation on a great and glorious imperialist nation eroding from within, slowly going the course of ruin and as such it gives one of the most unforgettable glimpses of a bygone age ever to be captured on film. It's a magnificent work of art but will probably be appreciated only by those with a great interest in history which, alas, is not the general public.