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A possibly enchanted forest, somewhen in the Middle Ages: Tias (Xander
Phillips) wakes up to a bump on is head and total memory loss - but still
enough fight in him to ward off a gang of thieves. He then walks through
the woods aimlessly until he reaches the humble hut of a hermit, Ulysses
(Seth Easterbrook), who grants him abode and treats his wound. And
gradually Tias starts to remember, he wanted to find the mythical Bastard
Sword, which was to cure his friend (Gemma Comber) from grief after she
has lost her lover (Chris Comber). Eventually, thief Mars (Martyn Eade)
breaks into Ulysses' hut to steal whatever he can get his hands on, but
Tias is able to overcome him. Ulysses forbids Tias to kill Mars though and
instead treats the wounds Mars suffered in his struggle with Tias. And
Ulysses tells both Tias and Mars he can find the Bastard Sword, which is
to have the power of mind control, but only he, Ulysses, knows how to use
it. And if Tias and Mars want to somehow participate in the sword's power,
they have to agree to a truce - a truce that's shakey at best, but the
three men find the sword - and both Tias and Mars are disappointed when
they find it's not as easy to wield the power of the sword as they thought
it would. All amounts in Mars eventually taking the sword onto him and
trying to make a getaway, not because he knows what to do with it, just
out of principle. This eventually leads to a duel between him and Tias
where Tias kills Mars - upon which, weirdly enough, Ulysses does't want to
have anything more to do with Tias. And this is when Tias starts to
suspect foul play, and he pretty much forces Ulysses to tell him the whole
truth. Thing is, it's a truth that Tias, finally finding out who he really
is, doesn't like one bit ... Now I will say that, at three
hours and a bit, The Bastard Sword is a bit on the long side, and
could have done with an hour taken off - but that said, this is still
anything but a bad film, if anything it's proof that with a good story,
even a fantasy epic can be done on a budget and without endless CGI
effects and mass scenes just to visually overwhelm the audience (and hide
a formulaic plot behind the noise more likely than not). Instead the film
takes its time to tell a down-to-earth tale in a down-to-earth manner with
a certain folks talke feel to it. And the direction does its best to give
the story and cast space to breathe rather than over-stylize things, while
the ensemble cast embody their roles believably and relatably, all
resulting in a fantasy flick that seems slightly out of time, but is a
worthy watch nevertheless.
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