I’m of two minds when grading Tristan and Isolde… no wait, make that one mind and one heart. My heart says “aw, what the heck, these kids are in love, this was a decent flick, give it a B.” My head says “Predictable, melodramatic, too long, with a shaky premise. Feel like a D-.” Sorry Tristan and Isolde, my head has more compelling arguments at this juncture.
The first 30 minutes of the film are quite solid. The plot is of medieval Ireland and Britain, savage war is taking place as the Irish rule with an iron fist. It feels a lot like the superb Braveheart, except this time the Irish are the bastards and the English are the “put upon” beat down victims. The start of the film is so strong because it takes us to various parts on the Irish and British maps, giving various points of view in this historical military struggle. When this film is working it feels very big, important things are afoot. Unfortunately the love story enters in around minute 40. I know it’s strange to say the love story slowed a love story down but that’s pretty much what happened.
James Franco acquits himself well here as Tristan though he occasionally comes off as a petulant child. Hey, isn’t that what he does in Spider-Man too (and 2)? Sophia Myles is also very good as Isolde. The couple has nice chemistry and so on and so forth. They kiss with great gusto and yearn in an even more convincing manner. The film finds the most trouble when they forlornly hold hands in the forest and you wait for the lame-o-meter to start chirping hysterically.
The battle scenes are well done here and give your average guy some hope that he’s seeing something tasty but they too go away after minute 30 or so. The thing with good romance (and good storytelling for that matter) is the need for subtlety. Don’t beat us over the head with proclamations of undying passion, show us the small moments that real couples have. Additionally, don’t make the premise of the conflict so trivial as to cause the occasional guffaw from a startled audience. I can’t give it away as it’s against my spoiler free credo but this puppy is a wobbly beast. When you think about why Tristan and Isolde are so star crossed you’ll be tempted to say, “Huh?”
In the end, my mind is crushing my heart. I wish I could give more credit to some of the truly beautiful moments in this film, some of the quiet moments where it felt like a happening, but it’s all overshadowed by this certainty that this wasn’t a very well made movie. Where can we place blame? Well, the director made the highly underrated Count of Monte Christo. The screenwriter wrote one of them Lara Croft movies. I’ll leave it at that.
I can’t recommend Tristan and Isolde unless you are desperate for a date movie. I can recommend it for director’s cut DVD with a full re-editing. After all, sometimes love deserves a second chance.
