Sinbad: The 5th Voyage (2014)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Patrick Stewart, Shahin Sean Solomon, Lorna Raver
Directed by Shahin Sean Solomon
Like I always say, “If you’re ever gonna swashbuckle, you’d better grab the biggest buckle and swash the hell out of it“…or something loosely translated to that effect. In layman’s terms: to swashbuckle is to perform as a swaggering or daring soldier or adventurer, and with Shahin Sean Solomon’s tribute to the Ray Harryhausen in terms of visual effects, Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage gives the viewer a look back at how the days of old can (sometimes) rival the new models rolling down the assembly line.
While Jack Sparrow and his Caribbean buccaneers have nothing to fear in terms of big-budgeted monstrosity, or box-office returns in copious amounts, fans of the old time, action-packed fantasy films with stop-action design like Jason and the Argonauts or the 1981 Clash of the Titans, will find this tale of love, revenge and treasure-hunting madness. Solomon pulls the sled as not only director, but as Sinbad himself, who is madly in love with Firoozeh, the Sultan’s daughter. When the sovereign ruler comes to the conclusion that Sinbad isn’t the right man for his daughter, mainly due to the lack of riches that he possesses, things really hit the skids when Firoozeh is abducted by an evil sorcerer. It’s now up to Sinbad to travel deep into the creature-ridden black desert to save the woman he loves, and to prove to her father that he’s the right man for her lovin’.
I’d love to scatter a boatload of details here about the film, but that’s the main story, and you know what? – it works. Sinbad and his small band of brawlers head off on a journey that takes them to the farthest reaches, and intense battles with a myriad of rancorous creatures, some protective of their young, and some simply out for some pirate blood. The battles are what you’d expect from a low-to mid-budget film, and at times it can get moderately bothersome to watch as there appears to be more hiccups in the creatures’ actions than in older films – while I used to love the look of the movies in the days of old, I guess I’ve been spoiled by the overwhelmingly titanic production values of films today, and the effects that spring from them. Aah, the times…they are a changin’.
As far as the performances go, I’d have to classify them as “passable” – some lines were delivered rather artificially, but who could pass up the opportunity to watch Lorna Raver work as Zoreh, one of Sinbad’s clerics. For those that don’t recognize the name, just think back to Drag Me To Hell, and the craggish, staple-eyed, curse-slinging Mrs.Ganush, and in a hint of brilliance, Captain Picard himself, Patrick Stewart is on tap as a narrator – I repeat, strictly as a narrator, so don’t look for him to pop up in the captain’s chair. Outside of a few downsides, Sinbad is a temperately mediocre film to sit back and watch, mainly to reminisce about the long-gone formats of film, but unless you’re a die-hard fan of the swashbuckling genre, and willing to forgive a bunch of technical slip-ups, this will strictly be a one-timer.
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Film
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