William Tell (2024) – Film Review
Director: Nick Hamm
Cast: Claes Bang, Rafe Spall, Ben Kingsley
Certificate: 15
By Roger Crow
There’s so much to admire about this reworking of the classic tale. The sweeping vistas look fabulous, especially in HD where you can almost feel the texture of the rock, or every blade of grass.
Then there’s the impressive cast, including the ever-reliable Ben Kingsley and Jonathan Pryce, who do what they do so well. And younger, but no less impressive thesps like Rafe Spall, who can carry a scene with the best of them.
“Action scenes are brutal”
Playing the eponymous hero with arguably more success than his troubled take on Dracula from a few years ago is the impressive Claes Bang, a thespian as worthy as his name. His etched face a road map of experience, again especially fascinating in HD.
Nick Hamm (maker of likeable 1990s comedy Martha – Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence) does a fine job as writer and director, adding a Bard-worthy gravitas to some of the dialogue and epic set pieces. The action scenes are brutal, and the costumes look authentic – always a personal bugbear if period togs look manufactured using 21st-century tech.
So why didn’t I like it more? Could it be the fact our hero is willing to risk everything to save a stranger so early on? Believable in some stories, but not this one.
“Dusted down”
Could it be that some of the dialogue is just generic? Another annoying trend with historical epics is the shorthand of using “Father” or “Uncle” to establish instant relations between characters. Give the audience a little respect and it will pay dividends.
But don’t let those little annoyances put you off. In a world where the same old copyright-free hero stories are dusted down every few years, nice to see William Tell get the epic treatment he deserves. With a little more fun and less seriousness, this could have been right on target instead of slight off the bull’s eye.
Adopted Yorkshireman Roger Crow developed a passion for film and TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a published film and TV reviewer since the 1990s; a world travel and restaurant critic since the noughties, and for the past decade has assessed the pros and cons of live gigs and theatre productions around the UK. His ideal day would involve reviewing a performance of Bat Out of Hell, followed by a Pad Thai while being serenaded by Texas on a cruise around Europe.
crowsfeat.com
