It's odd...Tristan + Isolde isn't the type of movie that I'd spend two hours on a Sunday morning watching. But with my new home theater, I'm inclined to stay within the HD channels. All else just looks 'blah'. So while surfing this morning, it was either two hours of ESPN before football starts or a movie which I hadn't seen yet. So I watched Tristan + Isolde and was pleasantly surprised.

Billed as a romance, there's enough action, adventure, and drama to keep me involved from start to finish. It's your classic forbidden love story - a British man and an Irish princess - when both countries were at war. To complicate things a bit, Tristan must return to Britain when his boat is discovered. Fast forward a bit and Tristan must return to Ireland to compete for the daughter of the Irish king in a last ditch effort to keep the British factions from war. Of course, he wins, without knowing the true identity of his former lover and Isolde must now marry Sir Marke of Cornwall, for whom Tristan was competing.

Underlying the whole movie are multiple plot lines of treachery and backstabbing which makes the romantic story just an underlying theme. I really wasn't sure if I wanted to watch the whole film, but I'm a sucker for period pieces from this time and I'm glad I turned it on this morning. It sure beat two hours of ESPN football predictions with commercials every 5 minutes.

All in all though, I'm loving this setup. HBO, Cinemax and Showtime in HD are all great fun to watch and when you throw in HDNet Movies, Universal HD, TNT HD, and INHD 1 and 2, there's usually a watchable movie on, and if not, there's always ESPN HD, Discovery HD, HDNet, or any of the other local HD channels. I just wish there were more options - History HD, Military HD, ESPN2 HD, any of those would be great additions...we'll just have to wait for HD to continue its rapid growth for a few more years I fear.

URL: Tristan + Isolde (2006)