Verdict:
First things first: hooray for the Dutch movie industry. It’s not exactly a big industry, and most of the films are low-key dramas in the local language, made by the Dutch for the Dutch. Nothing wrong with that. However, when this industry takes a swing at something more bombastic, I am here to cheer them on.
This film, unfortunately, has a structure problem. It is not that the story is incoherent, but there is an issue with editing. There are a number of moments when you ask yourself why something happened. Even with the knowledge of Dutch history from this period, the events could be unclear. God help you if you come to this film with no prior knowledge. The film keeps switching from one thing to another and starts to lose the viewer. Even when it does try to explain something, like a plan for an upcoming battle, it does not do a very good job.
During the action scenes, the camera work only adds to this problem. The creators were excited to display all the pretty ships and a flourish of explosions, so you see shot after shot of ships firing and blowing up, but those shots do a poor job of explaining what is actually happening. Cool war is happening – that’s all you need to know, I suppose.
There is a similar problem with the acting as there is with the storytelling. The acting itself is competent, but does not always fit with the story. A character will start crying about the death of another character, but the movie had not sufficiently established the close friendship between those two characters and so that reaction doesn’t mean much to the viewer. Again, a structure problem.
Michiel de Ruyter, the main character, was a skilled naval commander during the Anglo-Dutch wars, the wars that solidified The Dutch Republic’s reputation as a naval force to be reckoned with. The film fails to show his skill, only succeeding in showing his strong character.
The visuals and the music complement each other, though they suffer under the previously mentioned structure problem. There are a few wonderful high-altitude CGI shots mixed with real ships, and if you are a fan old ships, this is movie is a must-see. The soundtrack has that epic over-the-top Hans Zimmer feel to it, and during a number of prolonged scenes that have no dialogue, the film starts looking more like a music video. Unfortunately, the bombastic music and visuals end up underlining the mediocrity of the screenplay, because it often doesn’t feel like the scene in question has earned itself an epic soundtrack, so the grandeur seems out of place.
It is commendable that the movie’s budget is a mere 8 million. The same movie done in the US would have cost at least 150 M, with 20 M paid to Russell Crowe alone (Master and Commander reference). It is unfortunate that the film will probably not earn a sufficient enough profit. Michiel De Ruyter is a patriotic Dutch film that portrays the English as dumb**ses. It is centred on Dutch characters and lacks an international appeal. On top of everything it’s not easy to follow.
This is one of those movies that makes me wish that IMDb had a 6.5 option for scoring. It is alright but needed to have a more ironed story structure and found a way to market this thing internationally.