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Cast: Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, Mark Strong, Tahar Rahim
Starring Antonio Banderas (Desperado), Mark Strong (Zero Dark Thirty), Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) and Tahar Rahim (The Eagle), DAY OF THE FALCON is a soaring epic of honor, greed, betrayal and love from award-winning director Jean-Jacques Annaud (Enemy at the Gates). After years of bloody conflict, the leaders of two rival kingdoms reluctantly agree to end the fighting. But when oil is discovered between their territories, the war is re-ignited. Now it is up to their children – young lovers who have married in hopes of bringing the families together – to find a way to end the violence and bring peace to the land.
"Black Gold" finally makes it to the U.S. under the title "Day of the Falcon." The story is set in the 1930s Middle East where two tribes have had an on going feud over certain parts of the desert. As the movie opens the Amar tribe leader agrees to give his two young sons to the rival Nesib tribe leader as part of an agreement that the two will not do battle and the piece of land known as the yellow belt would be off limits to both. From there the story very quickly moves 15 years ahead and we now see the sons as grown men. When a Texas oil company arrives claiming that the yellow belt is rich with oil it causes conflict between the two tribes.
I am not going to sit here and say the "Day of the Falcon" is an Epic that shouldn't be missed but I will say that it has a nice mix of action, drama and romance. It also has a good pace to it even with it's 130 minute run time and the film's cast all did a good job. The story is pretty simple but there is a lot happening within. The basic feud is complicated by several things that happen in the film which keeps the story interesting and engaging. There are much broader epics out there to watch but this one does a good job at telling it's story and remaining entertaining all the way to the end. Acting Wise Antonio Banderas, Tahar Rahim and Mark Strong all give good, convincing performances as does Freida Pinto and the rest of the supporting cast.
What I liked about the film was that in was able to keep a perfect mix of drama and action. The battle scenes are well done while the drama and romance play important elements to the story but they never bog it down. Like I already stated "Day of the Falcon" isn't a must-see, sweeping epic but it is a solid piece of entertainment so if you like this kind of film I recommend checking it out.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray, both come with Special Features that include:
Making Of
From Storyboard to Screen
Visual Effects feature
You can order the DVD HERE and the Blu-ray HERE.
Released by Image Entertainment
*** 1/4 Out Of *****