Medieval - Movie Reviews (2024)

The film works best as a passable small-scale battle epic, but beyond that, it’s rough sledding.

Full Review | Apr 7, 2023

Any movie that calls itself Medieval, with the story taking place in medieval Europe, fails to have any credibility when the lead character has an American accent. It's just one of many problems in this mindless and boring action film.

Full Review | Mar 25, 2023

This is a full-blooded take on the true story of a legendary Czech folk hero, and writer-director Petr Jakl infuses it with plenty of entertaining myth-making.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 3, 2022

Big and imposing but visually grubby, narratively often indecipherable and ultra-violent....A dour, lumbering and often quite unpleasant take on Žižka’s transformation from stone-cold mercenary soldier to popular hero.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Oct 27, 2022

If it can’t muster much historical insight, this Bohemian foray rhapsodises violence all too effectively: mace-smitings, nose-bitings, even a lion crunching someone’s head like a boiled sweet.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 25, 2022

Medieval is an epic mix of bloodthirsty swordplay and historical drama which features a number of familiar faces.

Full Review | Oct 24, 2022

This really is not a terribly competent film... It feels like they're auditioning for a video game.

Full Review | Sep 19, 2022

Bloody historical biopic has gory battles, little depth.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 17, 2022

It puts up quite a fight — in terms of some dazzling swordplay and bloody battle sequences — but this ambitious historical epic struggles to generate emotional depth beneath the violent surface.

Full Review | Sep 16, 2022

Far from perfect, but a million miles away from disaster, Medieval doesn’t quite live up to the legendary status of its central figure, but who or what even can?

Full Review | Sep 14, 2022

Absent any legible mythmaking, coherent context or memorable imagery, Medieval will make the history books for all the wrong reasons.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.1/10 | Sep 13, 2022

Director Petr Jákl oversees a sincere yet dysfunctionally-assembled medieval flop.

Full Review | Sep 12, 2022

when men are being drowned, eviscerated, hung, impaled, burnt and smashed Medieval is blunt forcefun.

Full Review | Original Score: 68/100 | Sep 11, 2022

Lacking either The Northman's unified sense of vision or Gladiator's quality compositions, the dour Medieval can only crumple under its own weight.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 10, 2022

With a flat story and flat emotions throughout the film, Medieval might fade into the background while we’re typing this review.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Sep 10, 2022

Amid the beards, blood and grime is a solid blend of history and genre.

Full Review | Original Score: 82/100 | Sep 9, 2022

Struggles as a work of historical fiction, but when the action mounts, it’s immersive and exciting.

Full Review | Sep 9, 2022

Foster is a fine actor, but he seems miscast as the hero in this multinational, accent-deaf historical adventure.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 9, 2022

A film with an identity crisis, caught between its lowbrow sword-and-splatter charms and grander ambitions... The clarity of message gets hopelessly bogged down in the internecine conflicts of all the players.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 9, 2022

This crash course in Czech history is often compelling for its intricate details, but rarely for its characterizations, dialogue, or dramatic tension.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 9, 2022