The Reckoning Movie Review 2003

Nicholas (Bettany) is a 14th century priest on the run from charges of adultery who joins a band of actors led by the bored Martin (Dafoe). They come upon a town where deaf-mute woman healer Martha is on trial for a boy's murder. The actors decide to perform a play based on the murder (which is a wild departure from performing only Bible-based stories), and find out that other boys have been killed recently in a similar manner. Nicholas becomes obsessed with proving Maria's innocence and uncovering the secrets of the village's "protector" Lord De Guise (Cassel). McGuigan makes excellent use of a deft story and exciting but not intrusive visuals to build suspense for the plot, and development for the interesting character development. Bettany and Dafoe shine.

Distribution

Paramount Home Video, 5555 Melrose Ave., 5555 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038, Phone: (323)956-5000, URL: http://www.paramount.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 110 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Mystery & Suspense, Religion, Nuns & Priests, Homicide, Rape, Period Piece, Stagestruck, Great Britain, Adultery

Screenplay

Mark Mills

Cast

Paul Bettany, Sarah Henderson, Thomas (Tom) Hardy, Willem Dafoe, Gina McKee, Stuart Wells, Vincent Cassel, Elvira Minguez, Ewen Bremner

Cinematography

Peter Sova

Director

Paul McGuigan

Music

Adrian Lee, Mark Mancina

Other

Antonio Bloch, Andrew Hulme, Yvonne Blake, Andrew McAlpine