Faintheart (2009)

one of my absolute favorites!

Good movie but grossly overrated

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Faintheart (the character) is a Viking reenactor (as opposed to a Bravehearted Scot) who, despite having married and sired a son already in middle school, has never quite matured enough to be able to separate his real and fantasy lives. As a consequence, his wife has separated from him; and the film concerns his search for a pathway back into her heart. (Hey, "Richard", what's with the eyeliner?) As the first Yank to review this film, it's not clear to me why, at a key re-enactment, the audience would cheer for the Vikings over the Normans, unless the Vikings were merely the "home team" at the site of the event, or unless the Brits, after nearly a millennium, still resent the Norman invasion. (Historically, the Vikings launched raids on England, but it took the Vikings who had settled Normandy to later conquer England. According to geneticists, however, due to DNA similarities across sources, the percentage of today's population with Norman blood is indeterminate.) Faintheart (the movie) is an unusual setting for the standard RomCom. The execution is well-done, but unexceptional. The acting is good all around, but one is continually impressed with the juvenile leads. Faintheart's son, Martin (Joseph Hamilton, in his first credited film here), looks like a reincarnated teenage Jodie Foster, with the covered-left-eye haircut. Martin's girlfriend, Emily, is played by Chloe Hesar, an accomplished TV actress, apparently appearing in her first big screen effort.Faintheart is recommended for an easy-going one hundred or so minutes of undemanding entertainment.

OK, so the plot is on the predictable side, and doesn't really go anywhere that you wouldn't expect. Nor does this film have any profound message. In fact, it's a piece of lighthearted fluff.But the acting is very good (particularly the debutants), and the re-enactment characters are so well drawn that I found myself squirming for large parts of the film. For I actually do swing a sword around for a hobby, and I even know one or two of the folks in the background. My hat comes off to the writers - their characterisations of some of the people one meets in the "scene" is terrifyingly accurate. Yes, these people are really out there...SPOILER. One part of the film departs from any "reality" (reality whilst playing 'cowboys and indians with swords... hmmm). At the end of this film the antagonist (a non re-enactor) is handed a sword and encouraged to duel for the affections of the leading lady. I would just like to re-assure everyone out there that... no damn chance. No way is anyone handed a sword and allowed to fight for real. We have a little too much respect for our skins than that. It's a small quibble, but it does make the "scene" appear a touch more lunatic than it actually is (although the fact that the antagonist, holding a sword for the first time, outfights the 'trained' hero did make me smile). Of course, I do understand the sequence for dramatic purposes (although I'd have found it better if Jessica Hynes had fought for herself).As for the comedy... well, the owl wins hands down, both whilst alive and during it's ship burial.

Faintheart is very believable the characters are almost to close for comfort. The life of Richard is boring underpaid and full of self important idiots like his boss, his other life is fulfilling and full of friends unfortunately his wife was being squeezed out by rush to do both. Richards son Martin is being bullied at school because of his fathers hobby changing his loyalty to shame until a girl at school shows interest in him and the hobby. The fight to save his family shakes Richard and causes him to reassess what is most important to him, Cath and his son are worth the fight although the battle is not as straightforward as he'd hoped. The re-enactors are seemingly a collection of what some would call "social misfits" perhaps looking from another angle- individualists not afraid of being separate from the herd, they share common traits in that their jobs are like Richard's dull and low paid their hobby escapism- better than crime. Features Richard Ridings from Eric the Viking as a bin man/wild axe wilding Viking perhaps the last avatar of Thor- shrunken to human form thoughtful yet full of fun. A great film worthy of watching in turns sad and funny.

I saw the premiere of this film last night at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It was absolutely brilliant! If you like British films where the underdog makes you go "aww..." then see this film, you won't be disappointed. The young lad who plays the son of the hero of the piece is a brilliant young actor, the fact that I can't recall his name is no reflection on how good he was (I'm just really bad at remembering names). Ewen Bremner was excellent, as usual...as was Jessica Hynes. The film is also memorable for a selection of the crappiest looking cars you'll have seen in a while. The hero's C-reg Volvo estate car is just fantastic. And as for the soundtrack...I'd forgotten how much I used to like Saxon. Support the British film industry, when they produce wee gems like this it would be rude not to.