William Tell is oh-so-silly – and much the better for it
Enjoyable action drama follows master crossbowman taking on an oppressor state
Thursday, 23rd January — By Dan Carrier
Claes Bang in William Tell [Crossbow Film Ltd]
WILLIAM TELL
Directed by Nick Hamm
Certificate: 15
☆☆☆
THIS silly but enjoyable action drama takes us to the Swiss Alps, where we meet up with the area’s version of Robin Hood – the man so skilled with a crossbow he shot an apple clean off his son’s head from who-knows-how-many feet away.
Director Nick Hamm has assembled a cast who have clearly enjoyed the extraordinary locations and have responded to a messy film with enough gusto to make it work.
William Tell (Claes Bang) is the master crossbowman, a farmer, a simple rural chap who just wants to climb every mountain, walk every stream. He has returned from the Crusades to find his beloved Switzerland under the yoke of Austro-Habsburg empire.
When a goat herder finds his wife has been murdered by Habsburg tax collectors and seeks revenge, Tell helps him out.
Austria’s King Albert (Ben Kingsley), represented in the valleys by evil tax collector Gessler (Connor Swindells), becomes Tell’s sworn enemies.
This quickly escalates to a well-worn path of plucky band of renegades taking on the mighty monolithic oppressor state.
Of course, we are treated to a set-piece moment when Tell’s son (Tobias Jowett) is tied to a post in the middle of a town square and Tell is forced to prove his skill with a bow by taking an apple clean off the lad’s head.
It’s a well-crafted moment.
There is a feel of ambiguity over how good or bad this film actually is, based on the fact it is spot-on for a particular demographic – think daydreaming teenage boys. It might not be quite so attractive to other cinema-going groups.
It threatens at first to share a stable with the completely diabolical Guy Ritchie film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, a story marked by macho posturing of the most embarrassing kind.
But strong female leads make this a much more nuanced affair. It also manages to look passable on a low budget, helped by the stunning locations. Moments of derring-do are coupled with frowns and arched eye brows as a sub-Shakespearean script is pronounced grandly and milked for all its worth.
The hamminess adds to an overall effect – the thees and thous are not off-putting, and when spoken by Jonathan Pryce and Kingsley, this film has an unintentionally humorous am-dram Stratford Upon Avon sense to it. Oh-so-silly, but much the better for it.
