If you are looking for a film with love, sex and lots of blood, Tristan and Isolde is worth the seven bucks.

Similar to the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde meet under rare circumstances and fall in love in a short period of time. Tristan (James Franco) is a noble warrior of the Cornwall tribe in England. Isolde (Sophia Myles) is the daughter of the king of Ireland. The two countries have been fighting consistently since the fall of the Roman Empire.

The two meet through these unfortunate events and are forever lovers. Isolde becomes the Queen of England, married to King Mark, who raised Tristan as a son when his parents were killed.

However the lovers meet secretly to be together. They are soon caught, but when Mark learns of their true love for each other he is overpowered by his own love for both of them to let them be together.

Although this is the main plot of the film, this love creates more violence and death than anything else. It seems that the film is more than half fighting scenes filled with sword stabs, blood and beheadings.

In terms of the formal qualities of the film, the cinematography and the mise-en-scene really put the viewer into the world the characters were in.

Lighting was used in many different ways to capture the mood of the scene. Silhouettes were often made of the two lovers when they were alone.

The vast amount of violence was disturbing to me as I came into the theatre knowing it to be a love story and I thought that the love aspect would have precedence over the violence part.

This was the artistic choice that director Kevin Reynolds made, so viewers can either accept the blood and gore or they can go rent Romeo and Juliet.