ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

richard-tomkins Nice cinematography. Weak script, Weak special effects. some dark scenes that didn't have to be.The music, oh my horror, what can I say about the music. The swelling crescendos,everywhere, the loud volume, drowning out the dialog, and the most inappropriate music at the most inappropriate times, oh my horror, the most horrible music. After a half hour, I was left to myself to watch the thing, the music chased all the others away. Did I mention the music, oh my horror, the miserable horrible music, wrecking what could have been.In the last half of the movie, I could see the actors were all tired of this, their efforts were drawn and tired, they had succumbed, they had had enough, long before the audience collapsed.I'm sure the cutting room floor was littered with performances that were absolutely horrible, the actors were sick of this project and just wanted, no needed, to run away.In Blu-Ray, at a cost of $2.99, cheaper than a bad movie at the theatre and I could at least drown myself in beer.

vulturedj As far as I could see in the written user reviews I could not find a single one trying to be objective. They are all completely based on the religious fact underlying the movie than in the movie itself. For what I have seen I believe the movie is actually slow, and the actors, except for Wes Bentley and Charlie Cox, play a very poor role, accompanied with unsustainable and improbable dialogs. The casting director has the bigger fault on it. I would also criticize the inaccuracy in this Spain's History episode (civil war) and the abusive distortion of Escriva's character. It is well known from the only filmed materials of Escriva's life that he was quite temperamental, all the contrary that is shown in the movie. The character has not even a defect. It is hard to belief given the debate around such a personage. On the other hand is to remark the well displayed war scenes and both the costume design and the excellent adaptation to the 30's and 80's in Spain. The plot is also awesome, but it could have been much more exploited if Opus Dei had been apart from such a nice story of love, friendship, war and sins. It looks like, effectively, the first steps of this Catholic institution have been so forcedly introduced to a movie which could have excellently worked without them.

leal-895-895113 This could have been so much better...The story is a good one, but the acting is off the stage, as in overdone and it comes across as a bit wooden on screen. When practicing for a stage part which included use of a fencing foil, I remember being taught to exaggerate my swings for the benefit of the audience. Over-working something on film might work for slap-stick comedy, but it's out of place in this drama. Speaking of heavy-handing, the end of the movie reminds me of something done by Spielberg: a point is driven hard and openly upon the audience, but it doesn't go well with the final scene! Something seemed to have fallen out of the script, or been plugged in at the last, very detrimental! I felt the movie had a lot to say, but there seemed only about fifteen minutes of drag. Lots of emotion was generated, and this in a person who is not into traditional religion. A serious film that is seriously flawed by bad directing! (actors are better when you ask it of them; script seemed worthy, which meant major flaw at end was one of interpretation, not writing) Vote: the 6 which could have been at least an 8.5!

Pizza_hut_delivery_guy Truly one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I appreciated the pacing and the strong story line - really, the plot is the star here. Not an epic film, but really well done and tremendously over rated. The acting is decent and the characters are believable, albeit not all are truly likable (but hey, I don't watch movies expecting to like the characters).The Spanish Civil War isn't a common setting for movies and I think it makes for an excellent backdrop. The bit about Opus Dei is also interesting. I was afraid the film was going to get a bit too religious for me, but fortunately it maintained the right balance. Definitely a must see!