DVD Reviews

Tristan and Isolde

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• Starring: James Franco
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Tristan (Franco) the second-in-line to the British throne, unwittingly falls for Isolde (Myles) the daughter of a warring Irish king. It all kicks off Romeo and Juliet style when Tristan unwittingly (are you sensing a pattern here!?) wins Isolde's hand in marriage for his King (Sewell).Part Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (it's from the same director) and Troy (messy love story resulting in war-type shenanigans), Tristan and Isolde suffers greatly from an awful central performance from Franco, who seems to think that frowning and pouting somehow conveys emotion. Franco's scenes with a more up-for-it Myles feels like a script read-through, in which his obviously more talented co-star leaves him for dust, thus exposing his lack of ability with every line of dialogue. But Franco, to be fair is only part of the problem. It's a mediocre film in every sense of the word; the action, script and general direction in which director Reynolds leads us is so monumentally boring that you'll be praying for someone of significance to get killed just to inject some much needed drama into the rudimentary plot. It's not all doom and glum though; the aforementioned Myles is excellent, bringing to mind a young Kate Winslet, as is Rufus Sewell (in a rare non-bad guy role).Undemanding teenage girls may find something to enjoy here; the rest of us can merely ponder other, more entertaining ways to spend an hour and a half - like colonic irrigation or the Emmerdale omnibus.

Review by Mike Sheridan