movie review medieval 2022

Cast & crew
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The story of fifteenth century Czech icon and warlord, Jan Zizka, who defeated armies of the Teutonic Order and the Holy Roman Empire. The story of fifteenth century Czech icon and warlord, Jan Zizka, who defeated armies of the Teutonic Order and the Holy Roman Empire. The story of fifteenth century Czech icon and warlord, Jan Zizka, who defeated armies of the Teutonic Order and the Holy Roman Empire.

Marek Dobes
Michal Petrus
Sophie Lowe
Michael Caine
130 User reviews
68 Critic reviews
46 Metascore
4 nominations

Top cast 77

Lord Boresh

King Sigismund

King Wenceslas

Captain Martin
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Did you know

Trivia Jan Zizka is one of the few military commanders throughout history to have never lost a battle he led. Together with bertrand du Guesclin.
Goofs In the movie you can hear Magnus Samuelsson sing the song "So we gradually amble" written by Swedish composer Carl Michael Bellman in 1787.

Jan Zizka : Kings may be chosen by God, but they still make the mistakes of men.

Connections Referenced in CT na MFF Karlovy Vary 2021: Zboznovaný (2021)

User reviews 130

Convoluted and mostly bland.

benjaminskylerhill
Sep 10, 2022
How long is Medieval? Powered by Alexa
September 9, 2022 (United States)
Czech Republic
Official Site
Büyük Savaşçı
J.B.J. Film
Double Tree Entertainment
See more company credits at IMDbPro
Sep 11, 2022

Technical specs

Runtime 2 hours 5 minutes
Dolby Digital

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‘Medieval’ Review: Flaying Alive

Living up to its title, this ultraviolent ode to a Czech national hero bludgeons you into submission.

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

A cohort of notable actors — including Michael Caine, Ben Foster and Matthew Goode — tromp through “Medieval,” Petr Jakl’s lumbering epic about the storied Czech warrior Jan Zizka . The movie’s real stars, though, are its gaping wounds and mangled limbs, the singing of scythe and ax more eloquent than any dialogue.

On land and underwater, the verisimilitude of the violence is numbing. Horses are elbowed over cliffs; a man’s brain is leisurely puréed by means of a saw through the ears. By the end, scarcely an orifice remains inviolate, the camera’s blood lust seemingly insatiable. Yet beneath the clanging of chain mail and the gurgles of the dying, a story peeks out: The throne of the Holy Roman Empire is up for grabs and coveted by two feuding brothers. To prevent the corrupt sibling (Goode, lazily scheming) and his wealthy wing man from prevailing, a powerful lord (Caine) arranges to have the wing man’s fiancée, Lady Katherine (a wan Sophie Lowe), kidnapped. As operatic choirs muster on the soundtrack, a morose mercenary named Zizka (Foster), gets the assignment; a small empire’s worth of knights and peasants gets kaput.

Glum and bludgeoning, “Medieval” serves up a melancholic hero — see how it pains Zizka to take all these lives! — and a limp love interest-cum-bargaining chip. Hauled from one battle to the next, Katherine can do little but gaze, mouth agape, at the carnage, rallying now and then to declaim on the era’s social inequities and to pack maggots into Zizka’s newly vacated eye socket.

“Are you all right?” Zizka tenderly inquires at one point, though, if you ask me, the movie’s addition of that hungry lion was maybe a barbarism too far.

Medieval Rated R. Fans of slicing, smashing, gouging and impaling will be in heaven. Running time: 2 hours 6 minutes. In theaters.

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