Review of 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) by Edgar C — 30 Dec 2009
Sir Ridley Scott returned to big scale films after a trio of down-to-earth films rooted in reality. Here, he created one of 3 Christopher Columbus films to come out in 1992 to celebrate the discovery of the Americas.
Scott's film was the most epic of the 3, (the other two were Christopher Columbus: The Discovery and erm... Carry On Columbus. :P) But, despite such beautiful visuals and some good moments, it falls a bit flat.
It begins when Christopher Columbus (Gérard Depardieu), a navigator sheltered by monks, wanting to explore a new route to the Indies, seeing as the Turks have blocked the route between China and the West.
But he gets the support from Queen Isabella (Sigourney Weaver) to sail out in search of the Indies. After months at sea, he and his men discover The New World, on an island christened as San Salvador.
He brings civisations and more people's to San Salvador and the surrounding islands, but rebellions between him and and Indians ruin everything. It is a good story, and it's well filmed, but for the most part, this is quite dull.
Depardieu is quite stodgy with his performance and delivery, and the film sags in the second half. Pity, as Scott was the right man to bring the story of Columbus to life, but good visuals do not a good movie make.
Honestly, Carry On Columbus is a better film, and that's saying something!! :P.
This review of 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) was written by Edgar C on 30 Dec 2009.
1492: Conquest of Paradise has generally received mixed reviews.
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