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William Tell

William Tell

  • Status: Released
  • 17-01-2025
  • Runtime: 133 min
  • Score: 6
  • Vote count: 56

The narrative unfolds in the 14th Century, when the European nations vie for supremacy within the Holy Roman Empire. The ambitious Austrian Empire, desiring more land, invades neighbouring Switzerland, a serene and pastoral nation. Protagonist William Tell, a formerly peaceful hunter, finds himself forced to take action as his family and homeland come under threat from the oppressive Austrian King and his ruthless warlords.

Claes Bang

William Tell

Connor Swindells

Gessler

Golshifteh Farahani

Suna

Jonah Hauer-King

Rudenz

Ellie Bamber

Princess Bertha

Rafe Spall

Stauffacher

Emily Beecham

Gertrude

Jonathan Pryce

Attinghausen

Ben Kingsley

King Albrecht

Solly McLeod

Melchtal

Amar Chadha-Patel

Furst

Sam Keeley

Baumgarten

Tobias Jowett

Walter Tell

Jake Dunn

Stussi

Angus Kennedy

Town Crier

Samuel Edward-Cook

Kuoni

Paul Bullion

Commander Armgard

Aron von Andrian

Sergeant Heinrich

Diarmaid Murtagh

Master Builder

Éanna Hardwicke

Young Tell

Jess Douglas-Welsh

Queen Agnes

Dylan Devonald Smith

Captain

Billy Postlethwaite

The Wolfshot

Neva Leoni

Baumgarten’s Wife

Colin Bennett

Melchtal’s Father

David Moorst

Leopold

Theo Hamm

Duke John

Gabriele Greggio

Crusading Knight

Harry Ball

Young Stauffaucher

Christian Petaroscia

Suna's Brother

Nina Zem

Young Suna

Jolyon Coy

Reding

Charlotte Mills

Peasant Woman

Gianluca Magni

Austrian Soldier

Yuri Ribeiro

Soldier

CinemaSerf

Hmmm. Never before have I heard anyone proudly declare "We are Swiss" in quite such an underwhelming manner before, and that rather sums up the lacklustre performance of Claes Bang as the title character in this verbose crossbow chronology. Traumatised by his experiences in the Crusade, he's now not a natural rebel but is instead content to live peaceably with his wife and son. When he comes to the rescue of a stranger whose wife had just been raped and murdered by the occupying troops of the King of Austria (Sir Ben Kingsley) his former valiance is rekindled and releases all manner of hell on his unprepared, unarmed and unsuspecting people. Pursued by the maniacal "Gessler" (Connor Swindell) and his blonde henchman "Stussi" (Jake Dunn), he has to rediscover his skill with the arrow, and yes - there's the legendary scene with the apple and the boy's head! There is some stunning Alpine photography mingled in with the pretty obvious CGI, and to be fair to it there are plenty of action scenes as Tell and his rapidly increasing circle of friends proves to be quite adept at reducing their foes to wriggling corpses. Sir Ben has managed to fish out his eye patch from "The Last Legion" (2007) but like Sir Jonathan Pryce, he doesn't really feature enough to make much more than a few cameo appearances to add a little bit of Thespian gravitas to this rather sterile and flat history. The characters are really lacking in charisma in this film and the long-winded dialogue and charm-free efforts from all but, perhaps, Dunn - think a weedier version of "Stamper" from "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997) just don't really resonate much at all. There's plenty of attention to the creative detail with the costumes and castles all fitting the bill nicely but it's probably half an hour longer than it needs to be and screams sequel at us at it's all rather rushed end.