SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Let's be realistic.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I gave it a 9... and I would have given this movie a 10 if only in the start they didn't say: "Spain ruled the world" ... which was widely acknowledged at that time and even at this time with all the historic studies that it wasn't true.Beyond the written introduction... I had to watch this movie 3 times in a row within a weeks' time in order to satisfy my believe that this theme is as close to Renaissance era as any other movie could make believe.Viggo's acting was incredible as usual... along with all other characters in the movie from start to finish.The storyline is remarkably amazing, along with the entire historical setting and cinematics. I couldn't be more happier for all history fans as I was.The ending was very aspiring, as well as "realistic" in my point of view; in comparison to Hollywood's bull-crap where the main character worships the girl at end of the movie, or in nicer words: the main character does a 100% complete change of profile at the very end of movie.But in Alatriste; Viggo starts as a mercenary and ends the movie being a mercenary... Not end it by running off with a girl and worship her till next world to come.I cannot say anymore words except please watch this if you are a history fan... it is beautiful !

Bear in mind that Alatriste is one of the few Spanish action/adventure movies out there. That's not the typical genre for Spanish filmmakers due mainly to budget reason as it's really hard to compete with Hollywood's blockbusters.If you have read the books or are familiar with Spanish history during 17th century you'll really enjoy and fully appreciate this gem. Atmosphere = real 17th century. Costumes = great. Music = great. Acting = great. Directing = great (for Spanish cinema). Script = good (if you read the books, otherwise may look incomplete). It would be better to do it in 2 or 3 movies.

The episodic, incoherent script patches together highlights from FIVE historical adventure novels spanning a 20-year period of the 17th century. This film takes for granted that we already know something of the era's Spanish political, literary, artistic and military history. Even Spaniards found this movie confusing, so what hope do we foreign viewers have? Mortensen is very good in the title role, though the Argentine Spanish of his youth occasionally creeps through the European accent he learned for the film. In fact, the whole cast is good, but they're trapped in a hopeless script that skips and jumps over plot points too fast while still somehow remaining plodding and dull.The visual style works well, and I like the brutality of the battle scenes. (In English-language films, by comparison, war often comes off as a bit too clean and tidy.)The Alatriste novels have a lot to offer, so ideally this should have been made as a TV miniseries.

I was really looking forward to this and I think that it would have been great if the film-maker had taken the risk of making a single - or two - books of the series and then hoping it made enough locally and internationally to warrant sequels. As it was it felt like it was doing too much with too little time, it felt dragging and in the end I got little more than a terrific headache. Which is a pity because I really wanted to like this more than I did.There's a lot to love here though, the swordfighting with dagger in one hand and rapier in the other was a treat (not that much going around) but the duels went too fast - I suspect because they wanted to cover so much (TOO MUCH) ground. For example the assassination attempt on the two English adventurers could have been more drawn out, more tension could have been injected there. Not to mention when we find out who these are they could have made the connections with that other swashbuckler, the Three Musketeers as well as made more reference to English history for us non Iberian types. More could have been done with the campaign vs the French (this was the Cyrano period!) which could have also helped international audiences resonate.You didn't understand the motivation of the Dutch vs the Spanish either, the whole Dutch revolt, the religious issues, the political issues, etc. were not tackled at all, which is a pity as it would have been good to frame the action against the geopolitical situation (the ruthless mismanagement of the Duque de Alva and other issues that forced the Dutch hand) The issue of mercenaries of various countries and the type of warfare they had back then including the Tercios - we never really got to see the tercio in all its glory and see why it was, at that time, the most feared military organization in Europe. Ah to have seen a Spanish Tercio fight a Dutch battalion...But basically, too much to say, too little time, too shallow, too little real nuance, too rushed character development. This could have been the Sharpe of Spain, Capitan Alatriste and his merry band of rogues from book's one to five. Instead it's rushed, shallow and uneven execution leaves one exhausted and glad it's over. Capitan Diego de Alatriste deserved more.Viva Alatriste, Tom516