Plot: What’s it about?
This movie is based on the novel “Eaters of the Dead” by Michael Crichton. It is about an Arabian ambassador,Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, (Antonio Banderas) in 982 AD that is sent out of Iraq because he has fallen in love with the Prince’s wife. He has been sent out to take care of land to the north. On his way Ahmad and his advisor stop in a small village of some sort. There they stay for a few days to rest and in doing so get to know some of the men there. Ahmad’s advisor (Omar Sharif) can only communicate with one of the men by speaking Greek. In doing so they learn that the king has just died and that another man stands in line to take over.
A young boy, a prince, and some guards show up one morning asking for assistance in defeating an army that invades their village at night. The new king of the village brings in a witch to see how he should handle the matter and she throws some bones (not dominos) on the ground and the bones tell her that 13 warriors need to go there to help defend the village. Twelve men volunteer and the 13th and final warrior must not be of the land there. So Ahmad is forced into going. They get to the land and they first hear stories and myths of what attacks this village at night. They are told that they only attack in the fog. The first day there they find a young child scratched up and they go searching for where it might have taken place. They stumble upon a cottage where there are several human corpses that have limbs that are missing. It appears that they have been knawed off. They assume that it can’t be human and they later find out what they are about to battle. Several battles wage on to protect the village from these so called creatures of the night that eat people.
I missed this one in the theater and was glad that I gave it a chance on DVD. I enjoyed the movie and felt that it was better than I expected or heard. The acting was believable and the supporting cast looked like they were taken straight out of the 10th century. The battle sequences were pretty cool and bloody. I recommend at least a rental of this movie and you should be able to pick it up for about $17 over the internet if you choose to buy it. Although it would have been even better to have some added features with this one.
Video: How does it look?
This movie is 16×9 enhanced and it looks great. There are several dark scenes where only fire lights up the screen and others where it is pitch black. I didn’t notice any grain and the black level looked dead on. The day scenes are good and the movie has a darker tone to it. (purposely I think) You can almost feel the mist in the air in several scenes. An excellent 16×9 transfer from Disney.
Audio: How does it sound?
This is a great sounding DVD as well. The bass is pretty good and the front soundstage is very wide. The rear speakers are used effectively in battle and when the horses are running through the country. A very good job here as well.
Supplements: What are the extras?
All you get here is a letterboxed theatrical trailer in 5.1 sound. It sounds pretty good and it is nice to hear trailers as you heard them in theater in 5.1 sound. But unfortunately that is all you get.
