New to Home Theaters: Irish pilgrimage to protect holy relic escalates
An Irish pilgrimage to protect an holy relic takes a dangerous turn in a film new to DVD and Blu-ray this weekend.
Director Brendan Muldowney, known for his work with “Savage” and “Love Eternal,” brings the 13th century trek with three determined monks to the screen in “Pilgrimage.”
When the Pope requests an ancient, bejeweled relic is brought to Rome, three monks set out to fulfill the request after clearing the robed rider Brother Geraldus The Cistercian (Stanley Weber, “Outlander” and “Borgia”).
The monks, known as The Mute (Jon Bernthal, “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Baby Driver”), Brother Diarmuid The Novice (Tom Holland, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “The Impossible”) and Brother Ciaran The Herbalist (John Lynch, “Sliding Doors” and “Black Death”), encounter Sir Raymond De Merville (Richard Armitage, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “Robin Hood”) in a clash that threatens their quest and the safety of the relic.
“Pilgrimage” has received a 69 percent and 45 percent fresh rating from critics and audiences, respectively, from the media review website, RottenTomatoes.com, while members of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) gave it 5.8 out of 10 stars.
Glenn Kenny only gave the film 2.5 stars in a review for RobertEbert.com.
“By keeping its focus on the men in the forests, ‘Pilgrimage’ generates a largely admirable ‘you are there’ sense of foreboding, but it also constricts the storytellers’ ability to engage the film’s larger themes in a way that give any real idea of what’s at stake,” Kenny wrote. “It’s interesting as far as it goes, but you wish it would have gone farther.”
In a review for the LA Times by Katie Walsh, though, it’s noted that the film is “gorgeously shot” with a focus on the historical period.
“Shot in Connemara — a remote region of western Ireland — by cinematographer Tom Comerford, the coastal landscape is stunningly beautiful,” she wrote. “Robed silhouettes make their way through woods and against the sea; sunlight filters through the trees, illuminating the generous blood spatter produced by broadswords, arrows and axes.”
The film is listed as Not Rated.
Other films that arrived on Blu-ray and DVD this week include:
n “The House” starring Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler and Ryan Simpkins, directed by Andrew Jay Cohen, follows a couple launching an illegal casino to win back scholarship money.
The film is rated R.
n “Wish Upon” featuring Joey King, Ryan Phillippe and Ki Hong Lee, directed by John R. Leonetti, follows a teenager with a magical box with a deadly price.
The film is rated PG-13.
n “Shot Caller” directed by Ric Roman Waugh, starring Jon Bernthal, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Lake Bell, is a drama about a recently released prison gangster forced into a brutal gang rival-related crime.
The film is rated R.