What is best in life? If Conan is to be believed, it’s to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of their women. Well, Conan has got some major competition coming from the Eurasian steppes.

the_scythian

The Scythian is a brutal, violent movie with heart and guts. Lutobor (Aleksey Faddeef) serves his Lord and serves his Christian God. But he is not without enemies, rivals that would to take his place as the Lord’s right hand man. One of those has payed off a band of mercenaries and assassins from the pagan tribe known as the Scythians. They have stolen Lutobor’s wife and child, left a message at his door and an unexpected visitor. One of the mercenaries has been left behind, knocked unconscious by a treacherous blow.

Director Rustam Mosafir gives us a violent epic in which Lutobor will have to ally himself with the Scythian named Marten (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) to rescue his family. In the process, they will cross strange lands, finding dangers throughout and escaping from weird tribes that might as well not be human. In the process, Lutobor will learn more some dangerous things about his enemies, his allies and himself.

This is a visceral, muscular and mental action film. The fighting choreography is quick, angry and fits the environment. The characters are interesting and colourful. However, don’t necessarily expect the film to be historically accurate. It’s much more of a sword-and-sorcery adventure film set in a historical period.

My one caveat has to do with the sorcery part of the equation. It is minimal and psychological for the most part, which I loved. Close to the ending, there’s a CGI effect added that just makes me cringe and it is completely unnecessary.

Highly recommended for action enthusiasts. This is a fun, action-packed film that has no moral compromises. Characters can be heroes or villains and alliances are formed and destroyed at the turn of coin. If you’ve been missing the medieval style action genre film, this one should be getting you back on the horse.

That will do for now.