Knightfall

robfosters · 18 Jul 2018 at 23:31

Saw this advertised the other day. I’m a sucker for all things knights Templar and holy grail so I thought I’d watch the first one tonight.

I enjoyed it. The action was pretty decent, but not at the Vikings/GOT levels. I also thought the visuals were good apart from some ropey CGI at times. However, the acting leaves a lot to be desired.

Will definitely watch the rest of it as, like I said, I’m a sucker for historical dramas like this. I hope it’s one of those that has an average beginning but picks up as it goes on. Interested to see what others think of it.

wolfie138 · 19 Jul 2018 at 07:38

it was fairly bland and generic, acting sub par i felt. laughable that they just gave up on the grail when they were only about 20m from shore, pretty sure a couple of them could have dropped the mail and jumped in. the whole thing about hte gem was dumb too, unless they can adequately explain why they spent years protecting the Grail then one guy finds it's there in France and doesn't bother telling anyone or doing anything about it.
will give it one more episode.

Glanza · 19 Jul 2018 at 09:03

Is this more like Vikings where it's set fully in the period for all the episode or like some of the other History shows that has people sat talking to a camera then cuts to some 'footage' ?

robfosters · 19 Jul 2018 at 11:39

wolfie138 said:
it was fairly bland and generic, acting sub par i felt. laughable that they just gave up on the grail when they were only about 20m from shore, pretty sure a couple of them could have dropped the mail and jumped in. the whole thing about hte gem was dumb too, unless they can adequately explain why they spent years protecting the Grail then one guy finds it's there in France and doesn't bother telling anyone or doing anything about it.
will give it one more episode.

In their defence, that mail is not easy to get off quickly, especially when you’re bloody and exhausted, then having to take the time diving and looking for it. After all, they were having ballistas launched at them, there wasn’t exactly much time. Yeah it is strange why the leader never said anything about the grail being in France. Someone else knows about that gem though. It’s obviously what the highwaymen were after.

Glanza said:
Is this more like Vikings where it's set fully in the period for all the episode or like some of the other History shows that has people sat talking to a camera then cuts to some 'footage' ?

It’s like the Vikings. A drama, no cut ins from random Oxbridge history professors lol.

Glanza · 19 Jul 2018 at 11:41

In that case I'll give it a watch whilst waiting for new series of Vikings.

wolfie138 · 19 Jul 2018 at 11:44

robfosters said:
In their defence, that mail is not easy to get off quickly, especially when you’re bloody and exhausted, then having to take the time diving and looking for it. After all, they were having ballistas launched at them, there wasn’t exactly much time.

yeah, i'll accept that ~ like i say, after the set up that they'd been valiantly defending this for quite some time, they just seemed to shrug and let it go w/out too much of a fuss.

as another point that narked me, it looked like they're fond of the "sudden change to slo-mo" thing that was really overdone in Spartacus. hope they don't abuse it if i stick w/ it.

robfosters · 19 Jul 2018 at 11:56

wolfie138 said:
yeah, i'll accept that ~ like i say, after the set up that they'd been valiantly defending this for quite some time, they just seemed to shrug and let it go w/out too much of a fuss.

as another point that narked me, it looked like they're fond of the "sudden change to slo-mo" thing that was really overdone in Spartacus. hope they don't abuse it if i stick w/ it.

Yeah, the slo-mo annoyed me a bit too. It should be confined to key moments, not peppered everywhere. Personally, I think it’s a stylistic technique much more suited to computer games like AC than TV programmes.

It’s well paced though. I never once got close to bored. The best way I can describe it, is being a bit B-movie.

robfosters · 19 Jul 2018 at 11:59

Glanza said:
In that case I'll give it a watch whilst waiting for new series of Vikings.

It’s a more than acceptable time filler when you’re low on historical dramas to watch.

robfosters · 20 Sep 2018 at 14:51

Well I finished the series last night and bloody glad I stuck with it.

As I had hoped, it really picked up from the halfway point and when the focus of the story shifted more towards the grail, it got very good indeed and kept me hooked.

Finale wrapped up nicely but set the wheels in motion for an exciting second season.

It has been renewed already and will be back next year. Mark Hamill has joined the cast and will play a legendary knight templar who trains the young Templars in their ways. A bit like a knights Templar version of Yoda

Glanza · 21 Sep 2018 at 14:39

Reminded me of Vikings once it got going, better than I thought it'd be. Hopefully they keep the momentum going into S2.