If it can’t muster much historical insight, this Bohemian foray rhapsodises violence all too effectively: mace-smitings, nose-bitings, even a lion crunching someone’s head like a boiled sweet.

Struggles as a work of historical fiction, but when the action mounts, it’s immersive and exciting.

A film with an identity crisis, caught between its lowbrow sword-and-splatter charms and grander ambitions... The clarity of message gets hopelessly bogged down in the internecine conflicts of all the players.

The film works best as a passable small-scale battle epic, but beyond that, it’s rough sledding.