A love story best suited for video

"Tristan and Isolde" is a film about forbidden love and as the trailer claims, "a story older than the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet." The film itself is neither as strong as the comparison made, nor the love between the title characters, but is better than anticipated.\nTristan (James Franco) is the adopted son of King Marke (Rufus Sewell) who is wounded in battle and thought dead. He is given a warrior's burial, put aboard a boat and sent to sea. He washes ashore in Ireland and is found by Isolde (Sophia Myles) daughter of the king of Ireland Donnchadh (David O'Hara). Knowing he is English, therefore an enemy of her father and country, she nurses him to health in secret, during which the two fall in love. To avoid exposing herself, she tells him her name is Bragnae. Tristan recovers and flees back to England to rejoin Marke. The two lovers meet again after Tristan unknowingly wins a tournament on Marke's behalf for Isolde's hand in marriage. In order to ensure peace between countries, Tristan allows Isolde to marry Marke, as was promised. \nThe film suffers from many unintentionally funny moments and a flat beginning. The opening title sequence, as well as the closing, has a straight-to-video generic quality. The film does, however, pick up heavy momentum during the second half. The strongest point of the movie deals with the struggle of Tristan betraying his surrogate father who is depicted as a good and kind man, lonely for a woman and determined to bring his country peace. \nThe film's real tragedy lies with the fact that although being a good man, Marke's unyielding love for both Tristan and Isolde blinds him of their unintentional treachery that once exposed, threatens to tear him apart and leave the countries' peace in shambles. \nDirector Kevin Reynolds ("Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," "Count of Monte Cristo") does a good job of creating an internal conflict in viewers as they hope for the union of Tristan and Isolde, but without the expense of Marke's happiness. \nThe acting is mostly hit or miss. Franco has his moments, but the sad, tortured character is not a stretch for an actor that is best known for his role as Harry Osborn in the "Spider-Man" movies and his role as James Dean in the made-fortelevision movie of the same name. It would be nice to see him try something new in the future. \nMyles is fine and delivers even the cheesiest lines successfully. Henry Cavill ("Count of Monte Cristo") also gives a decent performance as Melot, but it is Sewell's ("Dark City") acting that is the real treat in this film. Although it won't get him an Oscar nomination, it certainly helped this film, as he added a much needed foundation for the other actors.\n"Tristan and Isolde" is a film that would have been better suited to be released straight-to-video. This film is sure to be a hit amongst middle-to-high-school-aged girls, which isn't as much a criticism as it is a simple observation. "Brokeback Mountain" is the only tale of forbidden love currently worth the price of ticket admission. \nWell, either that, or "King Kong"