first of all jan guillou be a fantastic writer . but even so and i have not read his arn series book . a i have great love and respect for guillou and i have high expectation for this movie . also and a good friend of mine ( student in university read history ) have read and recommend this book strongly . perhaps the director couldn not catch the atmosphere in the book and because the movie be a huge disappointment . so i will go very hard on this movie and not on the book so please make the difference . arn and movie and tell u the tale of arn and bear in 1150 and in the north of europe and in what would later become today sweden . the movie be basically separate in three part while ( 1 ) rise of sweden and mean the rival and fight for land and kingdom and ( 2 ) arns own tale and ( 3 ) a romantic . i do not want to tell more than that about the movie and but now on the trailer you see a lot of war in jerusalem and but that be only very short time of this 2 . 31 hour long movie . act or line the actor be way too aware of that this be a swedish blockbuster and and when they play their roll and one could see an all to relax ( not live into their character ) actor . acting be so poor and i sometimes wonder while if this be a middle age movie . they be say their line a a person live in stockholm would do in 2007 and which be just really lame and there be no attempt to change the accent i believe and make the quality poor . in some part and they do not even use old swedish word . i mean i can not believe that the swedish language or accent hasn not change since 1150 2007 the line be empty and when the accent be so poor and this equal in very low performance and and i sometimes felt that i be watch swedish big brother i think this be because swedish actor have not yet understood that act be with whole body and eye move and body language and etc and not just stand there like a jukebox and say your line one after other . the kid act be horrible and i be die every time they say their empty line and with no feeling and just say it a instruct . i mean and compare little girl briony tallis in atonement and her majestic way of act and take the crowd and fill up the scene whether to make u like her and hate her and move u from different mood by her acting and those well form line she so realistically with so much emotion say . if you find her too old for comparative purpose and then one could compare to jake lloyd and little anakin skywalker ( sw e1 ) . in arn and those kid do not even have many scene to play and most of their scene where just the same and and line so easy compare to jakes and whom be the one character we have wait for since 1977. the only good actor in arn be the old nun and mother rikissa and she be good but not perfect a the actor should have be in this movie . also saladin and father henry and brother guilbert and and the bishop pass and all other suck so bad i be about to leave the cinema and take a rape shower . bad act i find and cecilia algottsdotter ( and her sister in the movie ) and i have no word . arn himself be right behind they could simply not let u feel those really important scene of create a character and make u love and hate and or mystic feeling . cut or camera ( story tell ) what be those stupid layer other scene about ( picture over picture ) . i mean and when youre suppose to create a flashback and you want to do it good and like i be legend . even the tv series lose make good and more intense flashback . and most time this layering of flags etc just explain the movie watcher a stupid . i mean in one scene and mother rikissa say we be sverkar and bam a layer over her face with their flag and what be the meaning . who make that on photoshop . i will come to that later . the cutting be poor and a lot of scene do not make sense at all and we be push all too suddenly from one place to another and we do not even get an explanation why arns rid ( i even heard this guy be actually good at rid ) be really bad and the horse be so beautiful and powerful and but arns carriage or attitude make it look so stupid and i mean a cool horse rid scene have we all see and be it so hard . in elizabeth the golden age and when they ride their horse and one catch that freedom and speed and carriage or attitude i be talk about . let them come with army of hell . they shall not pass . elizabeth shout with furious anger . cool quote a these can also be find ( in elizabeth not arn . not one single line be memorable quote . ) i do not even like elizabeth the golden age . atmosphere or music now and some movie have characteristic music and godfather and star war and lord of the ring and every movie you read now you have hear the music and felt that atmosphere within you and do not you . forget that on arn . the music be really poor and no atmosphere at all and no tension or bravery there be nothing . and i mean and this be the type of movie where you could create amazing music to create different mood . environment well and this be the only positive part of the movie and beautiful place and great house and road and weapon and clothes and all that be really good . so my conclusion be . they have try to push three book in one movie and therefore the cutting and building up character and story and conflict and line have fail brutally . after watch this movie you will see represent bad actor and no good line and extremely bad cutting ( read bad story tell ) and no good music . simply no atmosphere and no creation of different mood etc and isn not that what a movie be suppose to do . i rate arn 1 awful . kingdom of heaven still be winner in this genre .