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“Black Death” is a full-bodied version of everything Nicolas Cage’s parallel-themed “Season of the Witch” hoped for but failed to be.
During the 14th century’s notorious bubonic plague (referred to as the Black Death) that decimated half of Europe’s population, a band of mercenary knights journey to a distant village of reported necromancers.
The village is said to remain untouched by the creeping illness.
None of the other knights sent by the Church to investigate the questionable community has ever returned. The group’s stalwart leader Ulric (Sean Bean) retains the geography skills of a young monk named Osmund (wonderfully played by Eddie Redmayne) to guide them.
Osmund’s furtive romantic liaisons with a girl whom he loves has left him questioning his path as a man of the cloth. Indeed, something evil lurks in the heart of the village’s matriarch Langiva (ferociously played by the amazing Carice van Houten).
Here is a medieval adventure movie bathed in blood and mud. Most satisfying is the film’s refusal to patronize the audience with any hat-tip toward some underlying religious import. Director Chris Smith shows great promise with a powerfully crafted film full of memorable performances.
Rated R. 102 mins.
