Rating: 
Summary: Please read Amazons details before complaining
Review: I'm tired of folks who complain in their reviews of this when if they had just read the Amazon reviews as well as the comment that this film is for viewers 18 and over they may have not had to bother seeing this film.
Don't blame the other positive reveiws or even Amazon for your inability to read all about it before renting/buying this film.
This film is very brutal,it is very dark and it is one of the the most brilliant portrayals of the the period ever made...Errol Flynn films are fun but this is NOT an Errol Flynn film. Heck if you've seen Robocop you know how brutal Verhoeven can get!
This film is amazing I saw it ages ago and at first I also found the graphic parts a bit much then I sat down actually watched what was happening, it is a amazing story extremely well acted and brilliantly filmed.
Jennifer Jason Leigh may have a bigger name for herself now but this is still on of her best films to date. Hauer is always interesting in his films and this is a real gem for him.So here is the deal if you do not like the brutal reality of "Ye Olden Days" do not see this film...but if you are intrigued to see a well acted and will filmed portrayal of the birth of the renaissance era and people who lived then and it is brutal, then see this film it is also really beautiful.
Rating: 
Summary: Flesh + Blood = anachronistic oddity
Review: If you frequent Renaissance festivals, then you will revel in this jolly, obscene romp. Rowdy, raunchy, "realistic" (two lovers munch on pseudo-mandrake beneath a pair of picturesquely rotting hanged cadavers--shades of Francois Villon), all is manoeuvred by the spirit of make-believe. Firstly, this is NOT medieval, much less the "Dark Ages" (Western Europe, 1501), secondly, the "historical" background is so violently skewed as to make anyone who knows anything about Italian history grimace in horror. Arnolfini is the "count" who reneges on his deal with the raggle-taggle mercenaries, but the Arnolfini were a celebrated merchant family of Luca (see Jan van Eyck's well-known portrait). Sir John Hawkwood (aka "Giovanni Agudo"), the English mercenary who served various Italian nobles, notably of Florence, died in 1394 (you can see his equestrian portrait by Paolo Ucello in the duomo of Florence). And yet he is a leading figure in the film. So view it "cum grano salis" and raise an overflowing tankard to Paul Verhoeven for his wild creativity in reconstructing "ye olden days of yore (gore?)." Frankly, I enjoy watching Rutger Hauer, even though he tosses off the whole schtick with ironic nonchalance. He is one foxy Nederlander.
Rating: 
Summary: FLESH & BLOOD OR IS IT CALLED SEX/NUDITY AND RAPE
Review: If you think this movie is rated "R" because of the violence you are wrong. This movie has numerous scenes with full frontal nudity and lots of forcible rape scenes. This movie is not for religious people or children or anyone else who does not enjoy watching such things. I enjoy the study of history and because of all the other glowing reviews I thought this might be an interesting movie but I was wrong. It's too bad the director wasn't creative enough to be discreet; he could have created a move that my whole family could have enjoyed. Personally I wish I had never bought it and I am disgusted that I watched as much of it as I did. I wish someone else had written a review like mine so I could have stayed away from this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the faint of heart
Review: In typical, in-your-face Paul Verhoeven style directing, it has the rough edges and doesn't really take the American hang-up with sex and nudity into consideration. This was one of Verhoeven's first explorations into the American market, and he had yet to learn the distinction between the love for shocking (synonymous with sex in the US) and the love for violence. Great movie, but certainly not for teenagers and younger. Rape scenes making sex and violence a match are certainly not the example you'd want to give. Whether or not this is is how it really was historically, I can't tell you - I wasn't there. Thank heavens.
Rating:
Summary: Renaissance warfare in Northern Italy at it's worst!!
Review: It's pretty obvious that the theater of war of this film is Northern Italy. Apart from the major players of the game (The French and the Imperials (Holy Roman Empire/Spanish), there were lot's minor players like the Venetians, the Pope, the Milanese, the
Florentines etc, etc, etc. Plenty of employers for your average Swiss or Landsknecht entrepeneur. The Renaissance was definitely the age of the warrior entrepeneur. The only things that seemed out of place was the name Hawkwood(who died in 1394) and those anachronistic cannon trails on the town walls which are straight out of the eighteenth/nineteenth centuries. You can tell it's pretty close to the Reformation because "the Cardinal" is full of notions of faith that could get you burned for heresy like divine revelation. Just ask Joan of Arc. Oh and the town only got what they asked for. The conventional fate of towns that resisted and forced the attacking army to storm it was the sacking of it's life(and burning.) That was a time honored convention from the time of Alexander until the Napoleonic Wars. Assault was expensive in time, money and lives. That's why Arnulfini used mercenaries as assault troops and not his own men. Less people to pay afterwards and they have more incentive to succeed. The only anachronism was that he reneged on his deal. Smart towns usually knew when it was time to surrender and it was before the assault. All in all a wonderful depiction of the time. This film (plus The Last Valley) show why after the Thirty Years War that rulers decided it was much to their interest to keep standing professional armies to keep entire kingdoms from being laid waste.
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of Blood and a Medieval Hot Tub
Review: Paul Verhoeven is a polarizing director. Either you love his work, or you hate it. Personally, I think the man is one of the most brilliant directors of all time. When it comes to telling stories, he is not faint of heart. He goes the distance, whether it be sex, violence, or political satire. If you are a Paul Verhoeven fan as I am, then you will definitely want to purchase Flesh + Blood. It's worth the price of admission just to see Jennifer Jason Leigh, make her delightful (full frontal) nude jump into a candlelit Medieval hot tub. Or to see that delicate romantic moment where Tom Burlinson and Jennifer partake of mandrake root beneath two decomposing corpses in a vow to love. The film boasts solid acting, Jan de Bont's excellent photography, and a rousing score by Basil Poledouris. The film quality of the DVD is absolutely perfect. Whether or not the film is historically accurate on all counts may be debatable, but it certainly conveys the violent and bawdy spirit of the times. An indispensable film for Paul Verhoeven fans!
Rating:
Summary: Good movie but inappropriate musical score
Review: The movie itself is interesting in its description of amoral behaviors, selfishness, and greed in a world with no rules (during the 16th century). However, the bestiality of the characters in the movie is totally contradicted by a symphonic music which would be much more appropriate to acts of bravery than to acts of debauchery and murder. This creates the feeling that the massacres here perpetrated are actually in some form heroic actions and that viewers should cheer at the sight of looters burning up a whole city. This music (and probably some directorial decisions too) dilutes the possible message of the movie and transforms it into a blockbuster for adults. This movie is another missed attempt by Verhoeven to make an uncompromised movie with a strong stance.
Rating:
Summary: Gritty, realistic look at history
Review: This is not a nice movie, anyone who expects a nice period piece will go away shocked. The history of mankind is marked by frequent conflicts and attrocities. This movie explores the motivations that spawn such terrible acts of war and retribution. The Rose & the Sword was originally and more appropriately entitled "Flesh and Blood". The morals of this movie are some of the most accurate that I have ever seen portrayed in a period piece, life was often sold very cheaply. The costuming and the sets are very well done and the fictional storyline is believable. If you can get your hands on this movie and you have a strong stomach I highly recommend it to you.
Rating:
Summary: Plague-ridden, medieval fest!
Review: This is the most authentic take on life in the squalid middle ages. Focusing on a band of mercenaries who have been done in by the latest lord, they find themselves on the run after they kidnap the daughter of a nobleman. This movie is confronting, and not for the faint of heart. It features brutal violence, and a rape scene which I feel was not necessary. If you can look past this you are in for a medieval treat. Rutger Hauer and Tom Burlinson are brilliant, and Verhoevens take on Middle Age Europe is brilliant and realistic (not having been there myself of course!). But you be the judge...
Rating:
Summary: Flesh and Blood - a movie for a New Years' Eve
Review: This movie is such a pleasant surprise! Rutger Hauer is soooo handsome and sexy. As "Martin" he and his band of mercenaries roam the 'northern european' countryside (where is this supposed to actually be?) with a statue of St. Martin (Martin's patron saint) guiding them to their destiny--a castle with the plague awaiting them. Agnes looks very much the part of the child princess bride. Some of this movie reminds me of the (in)famous "War Lord" with good 'ole Charleton H.--princess bride ravaged by the warrior--only in this one the bride isn't long suffering but actually has some fun with Martin too. The war machines add to the plot but man did the director take liberties. How did the wood on the 'telescoping' ladder keep from burning? Did they have dynamite for the 'bomb' invention back then? And how would the Arab medical texts suggesting the plague swellings be cut open rather than bleeding the victim make it all the way up there? The dialogue is so camp! At the most inappropriate times you find yourself laughing outloud--like at the end of the rape scene where Martin says: "I'm done, I hope you are". And the scene when Martin's first woman is having a baby and she says: "That hurts!"--an understatement if I ever heard one. The sexy bath scenes are very seductive--a mideaval hot tub, candles and all sorts of frolic. The film is shot in SPAIN--Avila and other beautiful locations but the weather is not always all that sunny--the rain and mud--whew! Loved this movie--you will too!
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