Although based on a mythical tale of romance and betrayal, Tristan + Isolde feels oddly contemporary. James Franco and Sophia Myles appear as two models who stepped off the cover of Teen People, not two teens who are suffering through the Middle Ages.

Overall, the movie was engaging enough. I wanted to finish watching it, and that says a lot. Both actors were quite good as well as the supporting cast. It’s not a fine example of great filmmaking, but it does the job adequately well. The period of the film feels real, with great costumes and sets. It was believable — not something like A Knight’s Tale, where an old story gets mixed into a tribute to rock music, throwing you totally off.

The nice thing about Tristan + Isolde is that you sort of don’t want the two star-crossed lovers to get together. Marke plays the widower “villain” very well, making you want Isolde to realize how good her new husband is to her and Tristan to remain loyal to the man who took him in as an orphan. Generally, the story plays out much like a soap opera, where the cheaters find ways to maintain their affair without notice, and this gets a little boring after a while.