Release Date:
Friday, September 20, 2002
Being called a coward hurts—just trust us on this one—so you can imagine the bruised ego of Harry Feversham (Heath Ledger) after he’s called out by all of his army buddies and hot bride-to-be (Kate Hudson). And so the long—and extremely boring—story of Harry begins.
After his friends ship off to war, Harry goes after them in North Africa to return the four feathers of cowardice he’s received and win back their honor. A war set in an African desert setting got our hopes up for some serious gore, but the fighting takes up so little of this epic-film wannabe that it doesn’t even leave a lasting impression. The liberties taken to get Harry back in touch with all of his friends are completely ludicrous—all of the sudden, his hair is a little longer and he has a beard, and some smudges on his face allow him to blend seemlessly into the culture of the Sudanese. We struggled through the storytelling that leads up to the war scene, and the subsequent makeup scene causes even more dozing. At least there aren’t any Knight’s Tale–style dance numbers.
After his friends ship off to war, Harry goes after them in North Africa to return the four feathers of cowardice he’s received and win back their honor. A war set in an African desert setting got our hopes up for some serious gore, but the fighting takes up so little of this epic-film wannabe that it doesn’t even leave a lasting impression. The liberties taken to get Harry back in touch with all of his friends are completely ludicrous—all of the sudden, his hair is a little longer and he has a beard, and some smudges on his face allow him to blend seemlessly into the culture of the Sudanese. We struggled through the storytelling that leads up to the war scene, and the subsequent makeup scene causes even more dozing. At least there aren’t any Knight’s Tale–style dance numbers.