Arn - Tempelriddaren (2007)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Peter Flinth

Writers:

Jan Guillou (novel)
Hans Gunnarsson (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 2007 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

Arn, the son of a high-ranking Swedish nobleman is educated in a monastery and sent to the Holy Land as a knight templar to do penance for a forbidden love. |

Plot Keywords:

Holy Land | Monastery | Enemy | Fiancee | Father Son Relationship

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Joakim Nätterqvist	...	Arn Magnusson
Sofia Helin	...	Cecilia Algotsdotter
Bill Skarsgård	...	Frik
Simon Callow	...	Father Henry
Bibi Andersson	...	Mother Rikissa
Milind Soman	...	Saladin
Vincent Perez	...	Brother Guilbert
Nicholas Boulton	...	Gerard De Ridefort
Michael Nyqvist	...	Magnus Folkesson
Steven Waddington	...	Torroja
Frank Sieckel	...	Sigfried De Turenne
Anders Baasmo Christiansen	...	Harald
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Morgan Alling	...	Eskil Magnusson
Joy Andersson	...	Canoness
Johan Arrenius	...	Young Knut
Mikael Bohlin	...	Young Eskil
Tomas Bolme	...	Priest
Josef Cahoon	...	Sigge Folkesson
Jakob Cedergren	...	Ebbe Sonesson
Julia Dufvenius	...	Helena Sverkersson
Lina Englund	...	Katarina Algotsdotter
Christian Fiedler	...	Karle
Titus Fisher	...	Master at Arms 2
Thomas W. Gabrielsson	...	Emund Ulvbane (as Thomas Waern Gabrielsson)
Nicklas Gustavsson	...	Gunnar
Annika Hallin	...	Sister Leone
Donald Högberg	...	Algot Pålsson
Douglas Johansson	...	Brother Stefan
Tobias Karlsson	...	Arnäs Hirdman
Barnaby Kay	...	Frankish Knight 1
Joel Kinnaman	...	Sverker Karlson
Charmouti Laarbi	...	Frankish Knight 3
Jørgen Langhelle	...	Erik Jedvardsson (as Jörgen Langhelle)
Charlotta Larsson	...	Dorotea Röriksdotter
Josefin Ljungman	...	Gunvor
Svante Martin	...	Karl Sverkersson
Anton Näslund	...	Petit Knut
Nijas Ørnbak-Fjeldmose	...	Sune Folkesson
Elise Pärnenen	...	Alde
Göran Ragnerstam	...	Bishop
Fanny Risberg	...	Cecilia 'Blanka' Ulfsdotter
Driss Roukhe	...	Fakhir
Noa Samenius	...	Young Arn
Robert Sjöblom	...	Hirdman Sven
Gustaf Skarsgård	...	Knut Eriksson
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Birger Brosa
Valter Skarsgård	...	Jon
Magnus Stenius	...	Knight
Ingmar Svensson	...	Priest
Mikael Svensson	...	Soldier
Sven-Bertil Taube	...	Bishop
Karl Oscar Törnros	...	Joar (as Carl Oscar Törnros)
Mohamed Tsouli	...	Villageois
Mirja Turestedt	...	Sigrid
Bisse Unger	...	Young Arn
Martin Wallström	...	Magnus Manksköld
Bo Wettergren	...	Hirdman Svante
Robert Willox	...	Master at Arms #1
Alex Wyndham	...	Armand De Gascogne
Chems-Eddine Zinoune	...	Saladin's Servant (as Zinoun Chams-Eddine)

Also Known As:

Arn - Tempelridderen (Denmark) (Norway)
Arn - Der Kreuzritter (Germany) (DVD title)
Arn - Temppeliritari (Finland)
Arn 1 (Sweden) (working title)
Arn: The Knight Templar (International: English title)
Арн: Рыцарь-тамплиер (Russia) [ru]
Arn - O Cavaleiro Templário (Brazil) (DVD title) [pt]
Arn, o ippotis (Greece) (DVD title) [el]

Runtime:

139 min

Country:

UK | Sweden | Denmark | Norway | Finland | Germany

Language:

Swedish | English | Arabic | French | Latin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Sweden:11 | Finland:K-13 | Norway:10 (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, UK

Company:

AMC Pictures

Trivia:

On 21 June 2007, executive producer Johan Mardell confirmed that the film ran over budget during production.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Arns mother is about to die, he walks outside the monastery and sees a man practicing with a bow. At a distance, you can see the man shoot his third arrow. But when closing up, he shots again, this time it is also his third arrow (in both shots you can see two (2) arrows stuck in the target).

Quotes:

Saladin: This is my brother, Fakhr.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Arn - Riket vid vägens slut (2008)

Reliable, intriguing medieval tale that unfortunately never peaks

Sweden in the 1100's is the backdrop for the troubled love story between nobleman boy-turned monk-turned-knight templar Arn and neighboring girl Cecilia- before he is sent off to Jerusalem in the crusades and she into a convent- plus the rivalling royal clan struggles for power in the nation. I haven't read the bestselling books which this is based on, and knowing this is a part-saga and soon TV-series to be, I can somewhat overlook the gaps in storytelling.

What I do enjoy is a sound, intriguing (especially the scheming between the church and royal clans) and reliable medieval tale- with heavy doses of romance, monastery/convent dramatics and a little touch of "Kingdom of heaven"- battling in the end- that unfortunately never quite peaks. As a cinephile Swede, I know the country's market a bit, and notice that the filmmakers are SO focused on keeping a safe, steady course not to fail with such a big production ship like this, that they end up with no real climactic cinematic highlights to speak of. Rougher camera-work and sets might've heightened things a bit?

For that reason it's very evenly paced, never boring and quite nicely produced. But with a major flaw: Arn remains very stiff and sketchy as an adult character. We never personally get to know him (he has SO few lines!) as to really understand why Cecilia loves him.

All in all, 6 out of 10 from Ozjeppe