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Flesh and Blood
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by MGM (Video & DVD)
Sales Rank: 19060
Price: $13.49
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In the battle between good and evil, only the strong survive! From visionary director Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct) comes this "vivid and muscular" (Variety) epic adventure of medieval bravery and blood lust starring Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh! In the chaotic, morally bankrupt Europe of 1510, a cold-hearted warrior named Martin (Hauer) leads his motley crew of mercenaries into battle to reclaim the castle of an ousted nobleman. But when the despot betrays them, Martin and his band of ruffians strike back by kidnapping the innocent young maiden (Leigh) betrothed to the nobleman's sona fearless Renaissance man who must risk life and limb to rescue the woman he loves!
Viewer Reviews
In Western Europe in 1501, a noble betrays the mercenaries he hired to help him seize a castle. This leads to the mercenaries, led by Rutger Hauer, seeking revenge on the noble by killing his men and kidnapping the woman (Jennifer Jason Leigh) betrothed to his son (Tom Burlinson).
Probably due to the fact that this film is a Spanish/American/Dutch co-production, "Flesh + Blood" is not your typical Hollywood version of history, it's more the unwashed, disease-ridden version, where even the supposed heroes of the film aren't entirely good. "Flesh + Blood" was director Paul Verhoeven's first American movie, and as with his later movies (such as "Robocop", "Starship Troopers" and "Basic Instinct"), this film is filled with graphic sex, brutal violence and gratuitous nudity. Unlike these other films, however, which fit more closely to the Hollywood "violence is fun" mould, this film portrays these elements in a far more realistic and disturbing manner. In fact, the whole film seems to be trying to be realistic (give or take an anachronism or two), right down to the inclusion of the black plague into the storyline and the acknowledgement of what happens to young women who are kidnapped by mercenaries. For this reason, I hesitate to describe "Flesh + Blood" as an enjoyable film (I can imagine many people turning this film off within the first half-hour). Nevertheless, "Flesh + Blood" is a compelling film that is very different from any film that I have ever seen (the heroes of this film are a far cry from Errol Flynn in tights), and as a result, kept me watching, even through the more difficult scenes. What fascinated me the most was wondering who would actually "win" at the end of the day: the nobles, the mercenaries or the plague. Given that both the nobles and the mercenaries were capable of evil, it seemed that the film could go either way.
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