Bringing the Holy War of the Crusades to the screen, Prince Killian and the Holy Grail has been released on DVD. The action adventure features a fairly good storyline that conjures up memories of films like Kingdom of Heaven, Ivanhoe, King Richard and the Crusaders and Lionheart (1987). The cinematography and special effects are worthy of note and costumes are very realistic and representative of 13th Century Crusades. The film is based on the Spanish Comic Book hero “Captain Thunder”.
The story opens in 1291 toward the end of the Crusades in Europe and Asia and we find Prince Killian (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) a Knight of King Richard invading a stronghold of the Saracens. His two able warriors Goliath (Manuel Martínez) and Crispin (Adrián Lamana) are always there to help him, but Killian has to rescue them a number of times. Following a battle with the Saracen Emir, an old man in a one of the dungeons gives a chalice to Killian for safe keeping. When King Richard orders Prince Killian to take Sigrid (Natasha Yarovenko) the daughter of Viking King Ragnar back to Spain with the Holy Grail an adventure begins as Killian fights for his life along the way.
Director Antonio Hernández adds some sinister characters for Prince Killian to go up against including Ariadna (Jennifer Rope) a wicked witch, Sir Black (Gary Piquer), Al Kathera (Alejandro Naranjo) and something crawling under the ground. Hernandez moves his story along at a nice pace using some excellent backdrops and landscapes as his stage. The low budget indie does suffer however with the lack of star power, unrealistic sword choreography and weak dialogue.
The acting suffers from uneven direction and features only a few stand-out performances. Delivering a very wicked witch Jennifer Rope gives her very sinister character a workout while producing her magic to try and stop Prince Killian from taking the Chalice to Spain. She needs the chalice to summon the devil during an impending eclipse. In addition they need a maiden ‘s blood to conjure up Lucifer and Natasha Yarovenko puts her talent to the test while in Ariadna’s grasp. She’s also Prince Killian’s love interest for the impetuous romance inserted into the film. She does swing a mean sword and shows her fine fighting skills while taking out some of the baddies that attack them on the way back to Spain.
The video quality is decent, very colorful and well lighted it shows nicely on a HD television. Clear and with very little distortion, the film is presented nice enough to get into the adventure. The sound quality may be a little off kilter, especially if you have the English dubbed version on the screen. I found it a little disconcerting, but with all the action, there’s not much important dialogue anyway.
Prince Killian and the Holy Grail has not been rated by the MPAA, but does contain violence, suggestive themes and strong language. If you understand Spanish it would be better to watch it in that language, because it looks like the script lines are not exactly like what may be intended when translated to English. Be cautious when deciding to allow immature children see the film as it does have some scenes that are inappropriate for adolescents.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Natasha Yarovenko, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Asier Etxeandia, Gary Piquer, Jennifer Rope, Adrián Lamana, Manuel Martínez and Alejandro Jornet
Director: Antonio Hernández
MPAA Rating: Unrated, Violence, Suggestive Themes and Strong Language
Genre: Adventure, Action
Running Time: 1 hr 47 min
Video Release Date: April 29, 2014
Original Film Release Date: October 11, 2011 in Spain
Language: English (Dubbed), Spanish
Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Widescreen
Subtitles: English SDH
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: Shout! Factory
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
