Better the 2nd time around. Indiana Jones genre

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 2001)

The first time I watched it I thought it was about a 7. But after watching it again I'd give it a 9 or a 10.
If you're going to watch this movie, you should pay attention to it, you'll get a lot more out of it. Sure, you could just veg out and watch some pretty cool fight scenes (and Antonio Banderas, if that's your thing), but then you would feel like it was just a decent movie with holes in the plot. I wouldn't call it an intellectual movie, but if you pay attention or just think for two minutes about one of the scenes in question, the story line/plot will make sense. One example
****minor spoiler******: they do switch from their language to English, but during the transition they use both, to show that he is starting to understand some of what they are saying. They only use English when he understands them. (The rate at which he learns the language is less than believable, but I don't expect movies to be perfect.)
2nd point - if you like Indiana Jones movies, you'll probably like this. It doesn't have the treasure hunting aspect, but it has action and it does have an historical aspect. I'm not an expert on 10th century European History, but from what I do know on the subject, they were historically accurate. This isn't one of those cheesy medieval films where the warriors are running around in swimsuits. They actually try in this film. It made me wish I knew more about Viking, Tartar and Arabian history to see how accurate the movie was.