User reviews

I was expecting a typical Christopher Lambert movie when I rented this, a pretty badly produced swashbuckling movie with some funny stuff. I was surprised to find that this movie was a little bit more....It is not a 'fun' movie but it is not meant to be. Technically the movie is pretty low quality and the script and editing is choppy but if you can get past those aspects it is worth watching. The international cast makes for a confusing variety of accents, but by the end of the movie you can see why various accents make some sense. This film is meant to inform the viewer of the history of the religious persecutions. It made an impression on me. If you have a social conscience at all, you can see a relevance to today's world events.

A 16th century Spanish town is plagued by some mysterious murders involving important town figures and when the sheriff Ruy de Mendoza starts his investigation on the mutilated bodies, he learns that no one else seems to want to help him out, as there's a cover up, which leaves him all in the dark. As the deaths grow, Ruy goes on to learns more. The web of deceit grows larger and secrets are being revealed. In his path is a mercenary group, which Ruy is trying to figure out who's the man behind it all and his intrusion could cost the lives of those his loves. Christopher Lambert as an actor hasn't done anything that has really grabbed my attention, other then the sci-fi flick "Fortress". His most well-known involvement in "The Highlander" series, did nothing for me. Anyhow I decided to take a chance on this medieval B-film and was pleasantly surprised with the overall effort, even though some frustrating strokes cropped up. Enchantingly sharp-etched period back-sets, props and costumes have a rich awe to them, despite the cheap origins. The premise holds up remarkably well with a broodingly elaborate mystery within a well thought up concept of effective twists and sustained involvement of the story's progression. This is because there's so much more going on behind the scenes in this conspiracy laced-script, which keeps things really tight and nebulous. The brisk location photography is genuinely polished and covered the beautifully picturesque Hungry backdrop with vivid scope. A blazingly elastic musical score paints the period and moody precisely. A solidly low-key Christopher Lambert plays in a husky and rundown portrayal of his character Ruy de Mendoza. He sounded like he needed a cough drop. Blanca Marsillach charms in her glassy part and James Faulkner weasels in. The acting while not great, is workably stable and watchable. Now what brought it down was that in patches the limp direction couldn't come to terms with the promising material, and was weakly conjured up and lacked real gusto in its delivery. Some unorthodox set-pieces flourished with atmospheric flashes of intrigue and foreboding terror, but more often it came across as frosty, repetitive and stiff. Some nasty and mutilated violence livens up the show, but the bustling action feels torpid, even though the pacing is always busy. The idea behind it is a stimulating pot-boiler, but for most part the execution is rather muddled and dry. While the material and production design is up to par, it's basically undone by feeble direction. Anyhow, it's not-too-bad and keeps you highly involved.

An awful script and terrible direction saved only by some decent local and imported actors. Lambert is fine but not given much to work with. Most of the time he seems to have the same slightly puzzled look on his face. Blessed, Faulkner and Law do the character work that they do best and the director should be glad to have had them in. Local Hungarian actors, including Szonja Oroszlany do solid work as well proving that the country has real talent available. Would have been good to see newcomer Ben O'Brien more in the role as Lamert's deputy. Unfortunately, the script sinks the boat and viewers don't have any time to develop a relationship with the characters much less care about any of them. Quick-pace editing means that the whole story moves much too fast.

We rented the movie as a joke, but it wasn't even funny enough to sit through. I think the other review written about the movie was actually written by Christopher Lambert himself. If you want to watch a good movie with Lambert in it watch "Highlander" not this POS. This movie was just bad and not funny bad either i.e. "Druids." The twist is lame too. We couldn't even sit through the "making of" that was boring too. This is just your basic bad B movie. Maybe Lambert need to make a house payment or something, I hope he got paid for doing this, I wish I did for watching a quarter of it. I wish Lambert would do good movies. Oh yeah and I can't wait for Mortal Combat 3, that should be hilarious.

I agree with the previous commenter about the script and the fast pace of the editing. It does the movie disservice. What would have made it better would have been to let the characters shine through a little more. I do think that for a low budget film it had an interesting, well thought out story. I was surprised by this, and despite the poorly choreographed fight scenes (why were all fighters, even henchmen, better than Lambert), I was still interested because of the historical engagement of the plot. I also agree with the previous commenter that the Hungarian actors were good. I think it is clearly a B movie, but not a bad one.

I was expecting a suspense film about Spain, the inquisition and serial murders. At first I saw the landscapes and thought, this could be Galicia or the Basque country perhaps. No references to Spanish culture or language, no mystery, no dialogue, no folklore, no humour. What is the difference between heresy and practicing religions other than Christianity? What is the place of witchcraft in Europe and Spain in those years? What about converted Muslims? If you are interested on a mystery film about the inquisition I recommend "The name of the Rose" with Sean Connery based on the novel by Umberto Eco. If you are interested in Spain in those years see "Juana la Loca".

Passable and mysterious thriller with medieval set, in 16th century, Spain, after banishing Jewish people by the Catholic Kings : Isabel de Castilla and Fernando de Aragon . A governor : Brian Blessed assigns the local sheriff Ruy de Mendoza : Christopher Lambert to investigate a series of killings committed by a sinister murderer. While a ruthless Inquisitor, Friar Anselmo: James Faulkner, carries out his own inquisitive justice until the unexpected and twisted final conclusion. Some secrets are better left untouched!. In the darkest days of the Spanish Inquisition one man stood for justice !. No one is safe from his fury !.

This is an intriguing movie with suspense, thrills, intrigue, twists and turns. This is a so-so Hungary/Great Britain/Spain co-production in budget enough. It results to be a whodunit in which there are various suspicious people : the inquisitor, the governor, a powerful Jewish , the Duchess...Who's the killer? Main and support cast give acceptable interpretations. Christopher Lambert is fine as a tough sheriff who has to choose between protecting his family from dark forces and his own conscience when he's related with the killings . Blanca Marsillach =Cristina Marsillach's sister and Adolfo Marsillach's daughter- is nice as the beautiful aristocrat, she produced as well. While veterans actors as James Faulker, Brian Blessed and Phyllda Law give the best performances.

It packs an evocative cinematography shot in Fot studios, Budapest, Hungary. As well as adequate and atmospheric musical score accompanying appropriately the action. The motion picture was regularly but professionally directed by Adrian Rudomin at his film debut, he also wrote and produced, though the film got little success. Rating : 5.5/10, average but acceptable and passable. Only for Christopher Lambert fans.

What can I say about Christopher Lambert?? He Starred in good films like Highlander films (OK not the second one) mean guns, Fortress Mortal Kombat and my guilty pleasure Beowulf. But there has been others like Point Men which was undoubtedly the worst film ever. Just look at the Christopher Lambert list of films in a word RUBBISH. But Day of wrath is different. It has a good Story, best part being all the twists and turns like disappearing bodies and conspiracies. Good acting OK violence is set in 16th century and Brian Blessed is in it!!!!!. Its very entertaining and is worthy of watching. Big Chris Lambert is (hopefully) back on track and I cant wait for MK Devastation.

7 out of ten

After all the terrible movies Lambert has been in over the last 5 years or so, I had stopped watching his films. However, after a recommendation I sought out "Day of Wrath" and I was very glad I did.

This may only be a B grade movie but the story was great and was well supported by good acting and a mood inducing score.

I was kept involved right to the end and I liked the mystery with a historical base. A good action thriller with an undercurrent of conspiracy.

It was better than many big budget films I have seen lately and I hope it is an indication that Christopher Lambert is back to making good movies.

who is the actor that was cast as the 'Hungarian mercenary'???? who? who? thanks. I loved the costumes, the actor ( Lambert) needs a haircut and a few more facial expressions. I just want to know who the actor was that stole the movie from him....the Hungarian mercenary. The photography was well worth watching, very well done and historical scenes were also well done.The scenes also folded well into each other .A smooth continuity, and understandable lines. The children were well chosen and presented their characters well. Who is that actor??? You know the one I mean , the Hungarian mercenary?The various animals that were used in the movie were well chosen and well saddled, bridled, and shod for the time period.Things like that really stick out in a period piece , like a new western saddle on a 16th century horse. Lambert is still the highlander in all of his roles, I know he could expand them if he wanted to, or even tried. The documentation was exact and you could almost smell the smoke in the fire scenes. And there were many.

First of all, the movie contains Brian Blessed of "I, Claudius" and "Blackadder" fame. The description of the movie also held great promise. However, as the movie unfolds, the promise is never kept. The storyline is boring, contrived, and one of the stupidest I have ever witnessed. Not only were many of the devices used in the plot silly, they made no sense whatsoever. As if that weren't bad enough, the acting was horrible. My wife and I were hysterical during parts of it, and it is not a comedy. At the end of it, we put on Mel Brook's "The Inquisition" bit from History of the World. At least that was a comedy. What the connection between this thing and the 1943 version is absolutely beyond me. You have been forewarned.

I had nothing to do on a Sunday and this movie was on TV. So I said, oh great a murder mystery. I always enjoyed them. Even if they weren't so good... But this movie is just terrible. It is an anti-Hitchcock movie, meaning there is absolutely NO suspense. None whatsoever. The director should find himself a different profession. The cuts are so quick and I do mean so quick that the movie just blows past. Some people get killed, bam, next scene, main guy finds something important out, bam, new scene. No suspense. And in this type of movie the suspense is everything. You have to be there with the protagonist finding clues and being on the edge of your seat when something goes wrong. Here NOTHING.

And the acting... It's like the year 2000 only everyone is in medieval clothes. The only medieval thing in the movie is the costumes and the scenery. But i could have lived with bad acting. But the cuts... Why not let a scene settle in? WHY?

A Hungary film that offers a comeback vehicle of sorts for myopic film star Christopher Lambert. He's not bad in the tale of an investigator looking at a series of brutal murders, but the back story involving the persecution of the Jews in medieval Europe is actually quite interesting and compelling. A little cheesy at times - hello, Brian Blessed - but it's fast-paced and it did hold my attention.

There is a reasonably interesting, albeit implausible, concept behind Day of Wrath (which I cannot reveal without spoiling the plot). Unfortunately the film fails to deliver much beyond this. 16th century Spain is potentially a very rich background for a film (and is vital component of this film's plot), but the producers of Day of Wrath have made virtually no attempt to localise the film. Just about the only thing discernibly Spanish about the film, apart from the actress Blanca Marsillach, was a leg of ham which appeared briefly in a single scene. Some viewers might be able to suspend their disbelief, but it was impossible for me to ignore the fact that this film was obviously made on a low budget in Hungary. It didn't help that the film's producers were lumbered with a leading man who can't act and a director/script-writer who lacked imagination. Oh wait, one of the producers was the leading man! That explains it. This was a vanity project for Christopher Lambert. Some of the cast put in convincing performances (Brian Blessed, Phylidda Law) and others did their best with very one-dimensional characters (Blanca Marsillach, James Faulkner, Szonja Oroszlan). But Christoper Lambert just failed to engage the audience with any sympathy for his character, and his voice - possibly an attempt at a Spanish accent - was just atrocious. To be fair, the director did manage to input a certain degree of atmosphere and suspense into some of the scenes (despite the presence of Lambert). But towards the end of the film the gratuitous use of blood and gore was completely over-the-top. Neither did the naked breasts do anything to advance the plot. I sense that the director needed to make use of an underemployed special effects expert, and felt that as two of his actresses had shapely mammaries he might as well display them. The only real credit goes to the Hungarian actors for doing their best in a foreign language - especially Lukács Bicskey who played the Hungarian mercenary. Why he had to play a Hungarian beggars belief when his English was delivered perfectly (a pity he couldn't have taught Lambert a thing or two about delivering in English).

No need to see this film, really. Worst thing in the film is the cut, it's done really bad. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a worse cut. It's horribly fast with horrible rhythm. It's the director's second work and if the first one was as bad as this one, I wonder who let him do it. Well, maybe the ten-year gap between the movies tells something.

The most blame probably goes to the script. The characters and scenes are left inexplicably shallow. The director has failed in creating any mood in the film. Most actors seem to overact most of the time, or maybe its just the bad cut than makes it feel that way. The events have gaping unrealistic holes. It's hard to get an idea of the settings of the movie, how big the city is, and so on; I got a picture that the population of the city consisted almost solely of aristocrats and guards. The movie is also littered with anachronisms, such as mentioning separation of church and state and the overacted tenderness towards children, not to mention the stereotypical view of the time period. And why use actors of mainly North-European descent, when the setting is in Spain? I believe Hollywood has a large population of actors of Spanish descent, so why not use them? Same applies to the Jewish characters. Of the major actors, I think only Carmen Marsillach was Spanish, probably none were Jewish.

Occasionally, especially towards the end, I could see a tiny hint of an actually good movie. The basic plot is actually not that bad, if you think about it separately from the movie and imagine what kind of movie a decent writer and director could have done out of it. The historical setting is real. I would almost think that this is a bad script based on a decent book. Apparently the director also wrote it himself though.

The Jester character was very talented, although his was a small bit part I felt he deserves an honorable mention for his performance and also the writer who created this unique character did something cool that I've never seen before; a new twist on the Jesters range, if you will (for lack of a better way to express it)...

Christopher Lambert did a superb job for his character as it was written. His char was tough and realistic but not Superman which means he didn't have it easy...

The backdrop of this fictional story takes place after the Jews were driven out of Spain. Having previously read the historical novel "By Fire, By Water" I was already familiar with the time period and true events that took place concerning the Jewish exile from Spain and so I understood this movie better than the person I watched it with (although you don't need to know this)

The scenery and costumes were period pieces that added a lot to the flavor of the movie but the best part is the well conceived plot and the twists and secrets that aren't revealed so easily...

What makes a B movie? Historically they filled the second half of the bill, were shorter, cheaper and generally inferior to A movies. Today the defining characteristic of a B movie, is budget. Those things which lend prestige to a film simply can't be afforded.

From scripts to costuming, todays B movies are all about improvising and simply making do. Day of Wrath is clearly a B movie but it did seem to have had a reasonable budget to work with. Costuming is impressive. Sets are credible. The script is OK. However when we get to aspects like the plot, well, things start to fall apart.

The plot is clumsy and disjointed. A hotchpotch of Catholic, Jewish, Spanish aristocratic interests mixed in with secret compartments, hidden identities, secret lists and buried family 'shame'. There is not much from the swashbuckler genre that hasn't been throw in to the pot.

There are other flaws. We are well over the half way mark when we discover the inn keeper is Lambert's oldest and dearest friend. He then promptly disappears from the narrative altogether! Phylida Law makes a much better fist of being Lambeth's mother than he does her son. (And this despite Law having but one costume for nearly the entire movie!) Brian Blessed has played one too many riotous and ribald monarchs and has fallen into shallow caricature. And on it goes.

Adrian Rudomin is a journeyman director and a writer unafraid of cliches or tired tropes. His depiction of the Catholic Church is particularly disappointing. All that James Faulkner, as Friar Anselmo, needed to complete his character was a black moustache to twirl and a floor length cap to swirl. He has played similar roles in the past but to much greater effect.

Rudomin sets several scenes in a scriptorium (transcribing room), the medieval workshops which saw rows of anonymous monks copy and decorate texts that were culturally invaluable but does nothing with such a rich setting, nothing at all. The events in the scriptorium could taken place anywhere!

Still, and despite being able to do much more than he did, Rudomin has drawn a tolerable and moderately entertaining movie together.

A final and sad observation concerns Christopher Lambert himself. He was 49 when he made this film and seems tired. He is leagues away as an actor from his 1984 Tarzan or even his 1986 Highlander franchise. This tiredness, along with Rudomin's limitations, confirms the movies' B grade.

Before I watched this movie I assumed it was going to be a bad "B" type movie that would be heavy on the cheese and light on substance. Imagine my surprise when halfway through the movie I was riveted to the plot line and actually enjoying the suspense. I can't say much about the movie without giving away to much so I'll say somethings not concerning the plot. Christopher Lambert portrays a 16th Century sheriff living in a town deep in the heart of Spain. His acting really shines here but I was amazed at the supporting cast's talents as well. Everyone seemed to really play off each other and it flowed together pretty smoothly. The ending leaves you satisfied and is thought provoking as well. There is some topless nudity but it is tastefully done. Parents should be warned though there is some blood and violent imagines in this film although it is used to advance the storyline. This story is worthy of theatrical release although I think it went straight to video. So rent/buy it on DVD and put the kids to bed and enjoy an amazing story similar to a "Rob Roy" or "The Name of the Rose" style of movie.

This film reminded me of the quality of Merchant Ivory films. Beautiful costumes, locations and richly drawn characters. The governor,Brian Blessed, was a delight. I loved every scene with him. The cast was truly amazing. The quality of the actors in this film is staggering. The court jester, accomplished the feat of making me laugh during a serious film. Additionally Christopher Lambert, really delivered, much to my surprise. My opinion of him has definitely. I'm disappointed this was straight to video. I can only imagine how striking this film would be in a movie theater! The film never dragged, clearly well directed. I look forward to future projects from Adrian Rudomin, clearly a director to watch!