AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

TheNabOwnzz Dutch cinema is ofcourse not widely known as one of the world's greatest contributions to world cinema, but in Admiral we have a film that is not lacking in its ambition, and while it does a lot of things right, it doesn't really manage to capture the bottom line of making the audience care about it. I like slow movies. The reason i prefer slow movies over fast ones is because films are a cinematic experience which need to sink into and be absorbed by the audience which will only succeed if certain sequences are drawn out instead of rushed through. Unfortunately, this is exactly what did happen with Admiral, as it seems to choke on its own haste. I personally do not know much about the history of Mr. de Ruyter, but i understand the film is supposedly very historically accurate. However, in its ambition to create historical accuracy the film seems to suffer from trying to put too many important historical battles in its 2 hour 31 running time, which results in extreme gaps in timelines after which the audience gets the idea that we missed huge chunks of the story. What is essentially the story of Admiral is him setting out to sea, fighting some battles against the English or French, coming home for some dramatic political or family scenes, and setting out again. It is also a picture that seems obsessed with creating an incredible amount of drama in nearly every scene, with its grandiose music by Trevor Morris ( While the music is great, its epic parts are used far too much ) & stylish slow motion techniques. While this might seem great there really isn't much drama in the end because the movie's pace is too fast for the characters to be fleshed out.Admittedly the costume design, music & in certain scenes the cinematography is all very pleasing, but a lot of the greatest visual shots in the film are cut short because the movie always seems to be in a hurry for some reason. It seems to think it is in a race while wanting to get to the finish line as quickly as possible. If you create impressive visuals, director Roel Reine should atleast let the audience appreciate it instead of cutting it short so quickly. Most of the shots on the ships are basically slow motion shots of pieces of wood and splinters flying through the air, which is all ofcourse stylishly filmed, but in the end has little substance. Reine also simply moves the camera way too much all the time. Even the simplest scenes feature overly dynamic camera movements for no apparent reason other than to keep the modern low attentionspan audience interested. It also for some reason features a lot under hip height shots ( Especially on the ships ), so except for some of the wideshots of the naval battles we really don't see much of what is happening most of the time.Frank Lammers is a pretty bad actor, and his performance as M. de Ruyter is just laughable at best. It also quite possibly has the worst casting ever of the country's greatest actor Rutger Hauer, and the guy who played William the third was pretty mediocre in his own right. The only truly impressive performance was from Sanne Langelaar, who played Michiel's wife, as she seems to be the only person that seems to truly be emotionally connected to the events of the film. A lot of people die, including some of its protagonists, which ofcourse results in overly dramatic slow motion and orchestral music in order to invoke emotions in the audience. However, this doesn't work as well as it should because the film doesn't really make you care about its characters and its world, since all it seems obsessed with is haste. Without substance these dramatic scenes become melodramatic scenes which in turn makes the film somewhat pretentious. It's great ambition cannot be denied, but in the end it is quite devoid of relatability.While it is a valiant effort of creating a dramatic view of de Ruyter's life and at times it is visually great, it does not succeed in making the audience care that much because it seems to be obsessed with its own haste.

Kirpianuscus a story of courage. or a lesson about politics. portrait of a great hero . or introduction to the essence of Holland national pride. a film who could remind many classic historical frescoes.and who remains seductive for the great beauty of message. because IT has the admirable gift to be the right choice for a large public. not real surprising . only good way for an inspired form of propaganda, adventure and beautiful show.

dcm767 I'll be brief. Pros 1.) Great time period costumes,social accords , buildings, etc. Well done. 2.) Some good camera angles, but the CGI was poor. The mass of ship shown for high above all looked neat and orderly. Way Fake (sorry, that was a con. 3.) Interesting look into 1639 politics of the Dutch and how fortunate they were to survive as a nation.CONS; 1. Read Wikipedia and see the ending is absolutely absurd, and never happened that way. Give this great Admiral his due, but a true Hollywood cop-out. 2. The music was way over the top. I mean that the big crescendos, and violins to tell me this is where I should shed a tear, really took away from the movie. It's an OK movie but WAY better ones to waste two hours of your time. David M.

Bob Great story and how loyalty is horrifying.In all aspect perfect movie. Story, actors, acting, horror the pictures, dress, the setting.1. The strugle with England and the king there is great. It is in short a bit Games of Thrones. 2. Great story about Michiel de Ruyter and Johan de Wit. The horrorfying scenes how a crowed takes a man apart is shocking bit it gives an idea how things went. Maybe there will be a TV show with these fellows or a spin-off 3, because there is a lot to tell about Johan de Wit and the development of the Netherlands. Although not really highlighted the movie occurs in the V.O.C. and slavery setting. It was in the original scenes but removed before release. The dutch were very successful in international trading in that age and also busy with slave trading. Very curious about this material. 4. Great music supporting the battle and other emotional scenes, great soundtrack. 5. If you like Black Sail then you will like this movie too. Who knows this could be the opportunity to make a great international TV show about VOC, how the church had influence, development of slave workers and development of kingdoms.