ada
the leading man is my tpye
Supelice
Dreadfully Boring
Glucedee
It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Adeel Hail
Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
szlagy-22629
First of all, I think his movie is one of the greatest historical films I had ever watched. The depiction of Michiel de Ruyter as a man, and military leader is great, and the battle scenes are one of the greatest I had ever watched in a movie.
But I still missing something from it. Something which would had underline the greateness and humanism of Michiel de Ruyter even more.
In 1670's in the Hungarian lands occupied by the Habsburgs, the Catholic inquisition supported by these, started a persecution of the Hungarian Protestant preachers. They brought before religious court around 700 preachers, and declared that they muss convert to Catholicism. Many of them converted to Catholicism in order to escape the harsh punishment, but around 100 declared that they will keep their religions no matter what happens.
So the Habsburg court condemned them to galley slavery, and sent them to Italy in order to be sold as slaves on galleys, to row until death. On the way to Italy these people were tortured and only around 30 arrived to southern Italy, the rest dyed.
At that moment, in 1674, Michiel de Ruyter was on his final trip to the Mediterranean see, and found out about the fate of these people, and that they are about to be sold as galley-slaves. So he payed their ransom and liberated them, saving their lives, because certainly no one from them would had escaped thecertain death from the torture on the galleys.
So it is weird that this movie does not say anything about the liberation of these people by Michiel de Ruyter, which would had underlined the greatness of this man even more!
I think that the director of the movie did not knew about this event. And that is a little sad...
Breck
As an American, I'm not intimately familiar with Dutch history. And that's a shame, because our concept of individual freedom is a direct descendant of the Republic's.I had heard of De Ruyter, but this film really opened my eyes. I know it's not strictly historically accurate (no film ever is), but it inspired me to read more on Dutch history, and more about this brilliant tactician in particular.On a different tack, I appreciated this film's superior accuracy in depicting war in the Age of Sail. I've seen too many Hollywood movies with mysterious "exploding solid iron cannonballs." "Admiral" accurately shows that the greatest danger to life & limb came from the huge oak splinters that flew in every direction when a cannonball crashed through a wooden wall.If you enjoy historical films, and nautical adventure in particular, see this one!
FeedingDream
As for the technical side, this film is spectacular. The editing, the story, the production value as a whole is worth the time. This is one of the "epic" films that did not get it's due. So well done and a fantastic soundtrack - this is where the we lose Academy worthy people in the mix. This production was phenomenal.As for the story, I found it a very worthy tale to tell (and surprised nobody attempted it at this level before). Due to the scope of de Ruyter's impact on this time period, the movie did move a bit quickly and (as expected) did not have time to encompass the importance and the intricate detail of the lives involved. So my only ding here is that it felt rushed in the aspects of the personal lives of Michiel and Anna. To give their emotional and political struggles justice, perhaps a mini-series would have been a more appropriate venue. You feel unsatisfied with the depth of their development. You are simply left wanting more from them.While based on historical "fact", there are many aspects that needed further development. I wanted so much more background and detail on the characters and the political struggle that, again, a sense of rush was left and it left me sad about that.When such an incredible production crew and and an insanely under- respected director (Roel Reiné) is given this type of budget and consulting, I feel like they were all let down by not being able to explore this topic and these characters further.Overall, this film was absolutely spectacular! The brutal moments (for those who know) were almost too brutal to fit into the context of the rest of the story's examination. But HOLY MONKEY this film was a great breath of fresh air and and a great view inside the filmmaking from this part of the world.A+ and huge kudos to all involved. You needed a better platform, but you made incredible value bleed from these limitations. An emotional and thoughtful ride on a side of history that needs more exploration. Cheers to you all!If you are a history buff, you'll get a lot out of this. If you are a film buff, you'll get even more. And if you're looking for some of the most under-appreciated talent in both screen and bts, then you've stumbled on a treasure-trove that all filmmakers should seek out.Disturbingly well done.
Motherspot
This movie is Fabulously awful.The acting is so bad.The storyline lacks any depth and the characters off the historical figures are utterly flat.I am always amazed how it is possible that a director does not see these things.I mean it's a historical drama but the language spoken is utterly 21th century dutch.The main character Frank Lammers's character as Michiel de Ruyter is totally superficial lacking any passion and shows us nothing as to what kind of man the protagonist was.Of course it's a dutch movie so we will be seeing a tit or two flying about for no purpose whatsoever. Do they ever learn in this country?....the slow-mo shots of f.i the sea-wars get so boring becourse they are merely gimmicks to show off what's possible with cinematography nowadays but..a movie like this is fun to watch...you''l roll of y'r couch laughing....maybe that's the power of this monster?