By Ben Bussey
British genre cinema has long had a problem with finding its own voice. Beyond the work of a few key filmmakers leading the way – say, Danny Boyle, Edgar Wright, Neil Marshall, and I suppose once upon a time Guy Ritchie – the bulk of the UK’s attempts to produce anything that wasn’t a sugar-coated rom-com, a prim and proper period piece or a ne’er-more-miserable kitchen sink drama have ended up mediocre at best, or painfully bad at worst. The key issue, it seems to me, is that so often our horror/action/thriller output puts on affectations of American cinema, and almost as an afterthought tries to shoehorn in some hints of UK sensibility, and invariably it comes off hugely unnatural and forced. Balancing a high-octane concept with a distinctly British identity has proved a very tricky balancing act to pull off.
Happily, more British sensibilities seem to have snuck in through the back door in Hollywood of late, thanks in no small part to the huge success of TV’s Game of Thrones, whose grim, brutally hard-edged take on the oft-maligned sword and sorcery genre has brought the landscapes and accents of the United Kingdom back into the cinematic spotlight. The popularity of the show doubtless had a key role to play in Britain’s Vertigo Films producing 2013’s Hammer of the Gods, an ambitious but ultimately somewhat lacklustre Vikings-versus-Saxons action movie (read my review here). While that film didn’t necessarily set the world on fire, it seems the key team behind it – producers Rupert Preston and Huberta Von Liel, and writer Matthew Read – were happy enough with the results that they decided to give that brand of historical action another shot. The result is Sword of Vengeance, and I’m happy to report that, while director Jim Weedon’s film isn’t exactly a game-changer, it’s a definite improvement on Hammer of the Gods in every respect. Indeed, we might note the producers behind this also had a hand in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Valhalla Rising, a similarly brutal but considerably more cerebral Viking movie; Sword of Vengeance (while not technically a Viking film at all) would seem to be aiming for somewhere in the middle of these two approaches, and it hits its mark pretty well.
The setting is Northern England in the aftermath of that historic conflict that all British schoolchildren remember from the year alone: 1066, the Battle of Hastings. In the wake of their victory, the Normans are slowly but surely battering the bulk of England into submission, but, as was ever so, they find themselves facing stiffer resistance than expected from the Northerners (and given the North/South divide in England seems more pronounced than ever right now since the recent general election, this feels like a timely narrative indeed). One key anonymous, taciturn figure (Stanley Weber) has given them particular grief, slaughtering several Normans after refusing to pay a tax for crossing common ground. Soon thereafter he takes refuge in what at first seems to be an abandoned Saxon village – but promptly finds himself taken prisoner for stealing their food. However, it’s not long before a Norman attack comes, seeking retribution for the murdered soldiers – at which point the mysterious ‘Shadow Walker’ breaks free and protects his captors in an impressively kick-ass fashion. Recognising him as a man of honour and a valuable ally, the Saxons welcome the stranger into their fold – but there may be more to him than they realise.
As is probably evident from the title alone – which, yes, they’ve lifted from the first movie of Japan’s iconic Lone Wolf and Cub series, knowingly or not – this is a pretty simple story, and you won’t need to be a scholar of the Norman era to figure out who the Shadow Walker really is (not that I have any idea how historically accurate any of it is, but I’d suspect that wasn’t an especially high priority).
What sets Sword of Vengeance apart – again, particularly by comparison with the disappointing Hammer of the Gods – is the execution. There are distinct overtones of John Carpenter here, owing partly to the electronic soundtrack, but even more so in that the film takes the classic Carpenter approach of transposing a traditional western format into an ostensibly seperate genre/time setting. Weber’s character is, after all, a Man with No Name, and happily the script (written by Julian Unthank from Matthew Read’s story) has the good sense to keep his dialogue to a minimum. Indeed, dialogue in general is fairly sparse, leaving the narrative to be conveyed largely by action and camerawork – a smart move indeed, as so often an overabundance of chatter can sour such films as this (again, that was absolutely true of Hammer of the Gods). The colour scheme keeps things similarly muted; there’s a very cold, grey look to proceedings which feels very much in-keeping with a bleak British winter.
The real meat of the matter is, of course, the action, and director Weedon handles it all pretty well. While the set pieces aren’t necessarily anything too out of the ordinary, they’re all very well shot and choreographed, the Shadow Walker’s underhanded swordplay being particularly notable; once again, haven’t the foggiest how historically accurate, or even how practical such an approach would be, but it looks cool, and this after all is the key concern. Sword of Vengeance is also another of those films that stands testament to how much filmmakers can get away with under a 15 certificate these days, as it’s really quite brutal at times with a fair few graphic gore shots. Also, as is hinted at in the trailer below, we do have one of your classic cheesy fireside sex scenes, but this is over pretty quickly, nor does the love story element ever threaten to overwhelm the manliness of proceedings.
I’m certainly not about to list Jim Weedon alongside the aforementioned Boyle, Wright, Marshall et al just yet, but Sword of Vengeance does leave me optimistic that he might yet prove to have a bit more in him of value. This is indeed a step in the right direction toward a distinctly British breed of action movie, and more of its ilk would definitely be welcome.
Sword of Vengeance is in UK cinemas and on VOD from 29th May, then comes to DVD on 1st June, from Entertainment One.