This is one of those great epic stories that could have been a fantastic film instead of this terrible script and horrible directing.
Luckily the island of Corfu keeps you enjoying the beautiful scenery so go in with low expectations and remember it's been 20 years since Ralph Fiennes disappeared from the island.
The only reason to watch it is Ralph Fiennes who puts a phenomenal effort into building his body to look like a real warrior and he still has the A star acting chops.
Juliette Binoche does her best yet her costumes are pathetic and look like a Flash Gordon costume and the make up artist makes her look like she is in a play rather than a film.
The supporting cast is a terrible mistake of mostly
b level clowns that have either bad English modern accents or 20 something gen x that are way too clean and boring to live in a supposed Greek world.
The son played by Plummer is a decent actor yet comes across as an imbecile except in the 3rd act suddenly out of the blue the director turns the father/ son team into a Tarantino Caligula kill fest that is almost laughable.
Spoiler
The funniest part is the kill area is cleaned of all blood including the pathetic son - but mysteriously somehow Fiennes remains all bloody and stays in character. It is so disjointed that it makes the scene feel mostly like a comedic play.
The director unfortunately creates a
b movie with 2 stellar actors and
the Greek village looks like a student film
with a motley crew of extras that appear to be from some North African country rather than local Greeks.
It almost appears that the DEI office in hollyweird stipulated that half the crew must be from outside of Greece.
At least the movie Troy got the casting right but this one is a joke so enjoy the comedy show esp the blonde actor with a crew cut. And almost all of the actors look like they play video games and never once lived outside in the Sun or lifted a sword contrasted with Ealph Fiennes that looks like he was cast in a completely different movie.
The slow pace is not worth the wait even with Ralph Fiennes brilliant acting and the only saving grace is that you get to watch him shoot arrows into these pathetic lame actors.
The Return deserves a better script, casting and director and it's a shame to see Ralph Fiennes talent wasted - but he deserves an Oscar nomination for his efforts.
5 stars for Ralph Fiennes.
