Prince Valiant (1997 film)

Prince Valiant is a 1997 Irish-British independent sword and sorcery film directed by Anthony Hickox and starring Stephen Moyer, Katherine Heigl, Thomas Kretschmann, Edward Fox and Ron Perlman. It is based on the long-running Prince Valiant comic strip of Hal Foster, some panels of which were used in the movie.^[1][2]

Plot

The story is based on the myth of King Arthur. A young, inexperienced squire Valiant, masquerading as Sir Gawain, is sent to accompany the Welsh princess Lady Ilene, a guest at Camelot, on her way back home. Little he knows that, meanwhile, the evil sorceress Morgan le Fay has convinced the Viking warlord Sligon, ruler of the kingdom of Thule, to steal the magical sword Excalibur during a joust tournament. Valiant and the princess become part of the struggle of "he who holds the sword rules the world" which leads them both to love and Valiant to his princely destiny, as it turns out he is the rightful heir to the throne of Thule. The usurper is eventually killed by his brother Thagnar, who also captures Ilene. In a final confrontation, the villains are killed and Valiant rescues the princess and recovers Excalibur.^[1][2]

Cast

Reception

Empire gave Prince Valiant two stars out of five and stated " a promising, swashbuckly romp is entirely scuppered by some indiscriminate broadsword editing, thereby removing any fun the name cast might have had, and leaving a poorly dubbed, effects-lacking film disappointingly limp".^[3] It has been described by one of the actors involved, Warwick Davis, as "a disaster from start to finish" which was "premiered, panned and bombed". He blames this on the director, who he says "seemed intent on partying all night long and giving roles to his friends."^[4]

References

External links

• Prince Valiant at the Internet Movie Database
• Prince Valiant at Rotten Tomatoes
• Prince Valiant at AllMovie