A Knight's War, action, Jeremy Ninaber, Kristen Kaster, Kristen MacCulloch, Matthew Ninaber, movies, reviews, Shane Nicely
February 23, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Matthew Ninaber
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed fantasy world, the action film “A Knight’s War” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one black person) representing royalty, common people and beings with supernatural abilities.
Culture Clash: A knight must go through a dangerous journey to save the corrupted soul of a “chosen one.”
Culture Audience: “A Knight’s War” will appeal mainly to people who like fantasy video games and don’t mind terrible acting.
“A Knight’s War” might satisfy viewers who like playing generic fantasy video games. Cinematically, the movie falls very short. The visuals are impressive for this low-budget film, but the performances and dialogue are flat and soulless. Everything about the plot is recycled from much better movies and video games.
Written and directed by Matthew Ninaber, “A Knight’s War” takes place in an unnamed time period in an unnamed land. (The movie was actually filmed in Conestogo, Ontario.) “A Knight’s War” has a lot of unanswered questions about the world in which this story takes place because the plot is so flimsy.
A narrated introduction explains the gist of the story: “Long ago, a prophecy foretold the rise of a chosen one: a woman with fiery red hair who would reshape the world. But the gods, fearing her power, whispered into the hearts of men, urging them to bury any child who ft the prophecy. And so, innocence was lost as the innocent were consumed by the flames of fear.”
In other words, women and girls with red hair are being burned at the stake like witches. That’s what happened to the mother of Avalon (played by Kristen Kaster), who as a child was tied to a stake with her mother, who died in the fire, but Avalon survived. A knight named Bhodie (played by Jeremy Ninaber) has been having nightmarish dreams about Avalon and even had a vision where he saw himself rescuing Avalon while she was still tied to the stake with her mother’s burned remains nearby.
Get used to seeing Bhodie waking up from these bad dreams, because the movie is filled with these repetitive scenarios. Several witches, led by the demonic Lord of the Woods (played by Kristen MacCulloch), have been dragging people into a hellish realm to take the victims’ souls. Avalon and Bhodie (who are both strong-willed and opinionated) are among these people and must find a way out of the realm after collecting three mystical stones.
Before this happens, Bhodie meets an unnamed imprisoned man (played by Shane Nicely), who says he’s the keeper of the realm. He gives Bhodie a lighted talisman necklace that allows the person in possession of the talisman to die 100 deaths and get revived, as long as the light in the necklace remains on. And so, the movie has repeated scenes of Bhodie dying and getting revived while fighting the witches and other villains.
“A Knight’s War” writer/director Matthew Ninaber portrays Bhodie’s older half-brother William, who appears mainly in the beginning and the end of the movie. The end of the movie hints that there could be a sequel, but it’s doubtful that there will be much demand for a continuation of “A Knight’s War,” which is completely derivative and has too many cringeworthy characteristics to be thoroughly enjoyable.
Dread released “A Knight’s War” in select U.S. cinemas on February 7, 2025. The movie was released on digital and VOD on February 11, 2025.