Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

jim-1543 1) When Trencavel is parleying with Simon de Montfort he speak of inquisitors. The conversation takes place in 1209, but the inquisition was not created until March 1233 (by Pope Gregory IX). 2) Simon de Montfort was not officer in charge of the crusader army which took Carcassonne in 1209. He was just one of several knights in the army. The officer in charge when the crusaders took Carcassonne was Arnald-Amaury, abbot of Citeaux. Simon de Montfort accepted the viscounty of Carcassonne in a council held by the victors in the taken Carcassonne. 3) Various scenes where swords are seen to penetrate chain mail are bogus, swords of that era could not do that.

badajoz-1 From a novel by Kate Mosse with a plot derived directly from Indiana Jones on the Last Crusade and that awful da Vinci code (we even have a self harming RC fanatic!) with a lot more medieval gore and some nudity - yes, it is the Holy Grail plot (hunt for over the ages) with mysterious secret societies working outside the law with police connivance pitted against a young woman with Grail DNA all looking for the key which are three ancient books! Lost! Not surprisingly, it's hokum and poor. The story wafts and intersects between now and 1209 as the Albigensian Crusade sweeps through southern France to crush the heretical sect called the Cathars, portrayed as martyrs and liberal Christians with obvious references to religious intolerance over the years. The writing is shoddy, one paced, with useless editing and direction. the locations are excellent and some of the acting especially Jessica Findlay Brown, who suffers her usual fate!, is more than this piece deserved. There is plenty of violence - cue Middle Ages has nothing to learn from Modern Day conflicts - and some nudity (very gratuitous and disappears completely in the second part!!! We learn not much about the Cathars, and the ending owes a more to 'She' - another straight lift. You can even boo the authoress as she appears as tour guide near the end - clothes on, of course!

pmg41 I just finished watching the second episode and I couldn't wait for it to end. How John Hurt put his name to this I do not know. The other actors must've been hard up for work or Kate Moss is personal friends with all of them.The long, drawn out scenes are reminisce of American TV shows that use this ploy to make a show seem longer than it really is. The public is intelligent enough to fill in the gaps- really. But maybe it was made for American audiences. It's incredibly predictable and looks like they've used left over sets (and actors) from the Merlin TV series. The plastic chain mail is unconvincing but was forgiven in Merlin, which didn't take itself too seriously.Another component which I found irritating was the editing- extremely bad. The transitions between eras (and some scenes)is clumsy and this seems to be prevalent not only in TV shows these days, but major movies which seem to be rushed and slapped together.I honestly thought there would be a lot more depth to the plot than there was.VERY disappointing.

joanne taylor I watched this while on holiday and was quite literally blown away.I knew a little about the book (i'd read half of it on holiday before accidentally leaving it in hotel room) and what I'd remembered seemed almost identical to what was realised in the film.The story flicks back and forth between Alice in the modern (played by the excellent Vanessa Kirby) and Alais her medieval counterpoint (played by Jessica Brown Findlay- Lady Cybil from Downton Abbey.The subject matter (the quest for the Holy Grail) could easily have been silly but somehow everything feels very convincing and real. It is a little violent at times but it was a violent period so I suppose it had to be.There are a lot of characters in the story so there's a lot to take in in episode one but it all builds up to an amazing battle that looks like it was made for cinema instead of TV.Overall amazing TV that really took me by surprise. Now I want to read book again.