Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Sword of Vengeance Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 14, 2015

There’s no Lone Wolf and Cub in this particular Sword of Vengeance, though there is a sort of proto-samurai ambience, along with might be almost thought of as a (Feudal) Man with No Name aspect, in a tale culled from the historical mists of William the Conqueror’s famous 1066 incursion into England. In the northern reaches of the island, one of William’s henchman, a nefarious warlord named Earl Durant (Karel Roden), along with his two equally nefarious sons, Artus (Gianni Giardinelli) and Romain (Edward Akrout), have instituted a reign of terror against the native Saxons. The film refers to this oppression as The Harrowing, though based on the results seen on screen, not to mention the behaviors on display throughout the movie, it’s more of a medieval holocaust, bordering on genocide. Pretty much out of nowhere a tall, weirdly hairstyled, stranger appears to wreak havoc on Durant and his forces, but not before the stranger himself is furiously attacked by the apparently none too bright Saxons. This stranger has no actual name, and is instead known as Shadow Walker (Stanley Weber). He slowly forges a relationship, both “professional” as well as personal, with a local woman who runs with the wolves, or something like that, a fierce but beautiful female named Anna (Annabelle Wallis). Sword of Vengeance is seriously lacking in actual character development and even some basic storyline cohesion and logic, but it provides a really arresting visual experience quite a bit of the time, one that shows interesting influences from everything including The Seventh Seal to 300.

A desolate landcape is interrupted first by three cavalrymen and then by a lone figure in a hood. The three horsemen accost the loner (who may not actually be alone—it seems maybe someone is following him). The loner is on Durant’s land and fealty must be paid (literally, as in a fee to proceed). Within mere seconds, Durant’s men have met their demise at the hands of the extremely skilled loner. That skill evidently lets the loner down a bit in a moment, though, when he comes across a camp with hot food steaming over a fire. As he sits to enjoy a quick meal, he apparently doesn’t notice that he’s being surrounded (in one of the film’s too frequent editing elisions which actually tend to strain credulity as much as improve pacing).

Thus is the Shadow Walker introduced to a Saxon mini-horde, including the lovely if tough Anna, who is attempting to establish her command bonafides. Her men don’t exactly cotton to Shadow Walker, and the now evidently less skilled warrior is quickly put in shackles. Which is when the next fitful subplot lumbers into place, this one detailing the roiling relationship between Artus and Romain. With Durant evidently away for a while, Artus has been put in charge, and when the spoils of the Shadow Walker’s war against Durant’s men in the earlier scene get back to the palace, Artus tasks Romain with getting out in the field and figuring out what exactly went so very wrong.

Romain and his henchmen end up intersecting with Anna and her group (of course), with the Durant forces easily outmatching the Saxons (especially since the Saxon men literally crawl away like scared animals). Only Shadow Walker seems intent on keeping Romain’s men from having their way with Anna, and Samson like, he’s ultimately able to pull away from his shackles to save the day (or night, as the case may be). In one of Sword of Vengeance’s most perplexing little plot diversions, though, Shadow Walker’s heroism is rewarded by the Saxon men returning (upright this time) to take him prisoner again, coming close to lynching him, evidently because he has now inevitably brought even more Durant wrath upon their heads due to his dispatching of this second Durant entourage. (Shadow Walker’s victory includes giving Romain the choice between gouging out one of his eyes or being killed. It’s not much of a surprise which Romain chooses, though that at least gives one of the chief villains the chance to tool around the rest of the film wearing a wicked looking eye patch.)

Durant ultimately returns, attempting to navigate between the sibling dysfunctions of Romain and Artus, while at the same time Shadow Walker finally matriculates more or less successfully into the Saxon group, impressing Anna with his Karate Kid-esque training regimen (admittedly with a large blade instead of just his fists). Ultimately, of course, there are several more showdowns, with absolutely no question about who will emerge victorious (even if bloody, bowed, and bestowed with a climactic tragedy).

Sword of Vengeance is just flat out goofy and not especially well scripted, but if taken purely as a cinematic graphic novel, it’s an often quite interesting watch. Director Jim Weedon has a propensity toward askew, assymetrical framings that give the film a certain style, and he and cinematographer August Jakobsson have done some rather arresting (if occasionally cliché ridden) things with color grading, bathing some scenes in a sepia hue, and desaturating others toward near black and white levels. The story and characters may be a bunch of unmitigated hooey most of the time, but Sword of Vengeance is still kind of cool to simply sit back and watch.

Sword of Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sword of Vengeance is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. As mentioned above in the main body of the review, the film's visual aesthetic is one of its most defining (and arguably most enjoyable) characteristics. Quite a bit of the film has been desaturated to near black and white levels, with only invididual elements like skin retaining just a hint of "natural" tones. Other long sequences are bathed in a sort of sepia ambience, a slightly brown hazy look that doesn't quite have the same sharpness and detail levels as the desaturated sequences. (See screenshots 1, 5, 6, 7 and 10 for some of the near black and white desaturated sequences. See screenshots 2, 4 and 8 for examples of the sepia toned sequences.) Generally speaking, detail and fine detail are quite commendable, with elements like the roughness of Shadow Walker's shaved hairdo or textures on costumes offering precision. Some of the exterior locations add immeasurably to the desolate feeling of the film, with the characters wandering through almost Abstract Expressionist looking forests, which are presented with good depth of field and appealingly sharp contrast. There are some recurrent issues with banding, mostly limited to the lightest gradients in the near black and white sequences. Shadow detail can also be minimal in both the black and white and sepia toned sequences.

Sword of Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sword of Vengeance features an interesting sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, one which tends to ping pong between forceful, LFE dominated battle sequences, and more arid, barren feeling scenes offering things like Shadow Walker simply moving through an abandoned environment. Dialogue is rather spare in this film, but is presented very cleanly and clearly. Ambient environmental effects are very well placed throughout the surrounds, and the big battle set pieces offer near constant immersion, with a lot of low end activity. Some of the "scoring" choices (which include a hilarious helicopter noise during one of Shadow Walker's training sequences) may provoke a bit of laughter. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range extremely wide on this problem free track.

Sword of Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interviews:

  Producers Rupert Preston and Huberta Von Liel (1080i; 8:13)

  Director Jim Weedon (1080i; 15:44)

• Behind the Scenes (1080i; 6:45)


• Trailer (1080p; 1:35)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA releases, the disc has been authored so that the supplements auto play one after the other, at which point they move on automatically to previews for other Well Go USA releases.

Sword of Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sword of Vengeance may suffer from substance abuse (meaning it doesn't offer any), but it has style galore, and for that reason those who like medieval adventures in the Game of Thrones wheelhouse may enjoy checking this out as a rental at least. Storywise the film is largely laughable, but director Jim Weedon has a really interesting eye, and Sword of Vengeance is never dull as a purely visual experience. Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.