(Review originally written at 18 January 2007)
This is one of the most badly written movies I've seen in a long time.
The movie is quit ridicules. The movie is about dragons from outer space(!) who are attacking a kingdom during the dark ages. A team gets assembled to defeat the 5 remaining dragons. But like that's not enough already, the movie is also about a conspiracy by the bad king to overthrow to the good king, though both kings seemed like bad ones to me to be honest.
The movie is quite laughable. It tries to be spectacular, funny and even epic. It tries so hard that it becomes ultimately laughable, because the movie itself is far from spectacular, funny and especially epic. The production values of the movie are far too low, though the movie certainly does not feature the wost special effects I've ever seen, especially considering that this is a made-for-TV-movie. That perhaps was the only thing that surprised me positively about the movie.
Otherwise the movie isn't too good looking. The sets are obvious ruins and the mass scenes are a disgrace. Launching a full scale attack on a kingdom with about 15, under equipped, men is a very laughable thing to watch, especially because throughout the movie the attack is presented as a great and serious threat to the kingdom.
The movie is filled with many unlikely characters. The main 'hero' is horrible looking, with an obvious fake wig. The rest of the dragon-slayer team consist out of the formulaic characters you would expect. None of them is really interesting or gets developed well enough in the movie. How did John Rhys-Davies ever got mixed up in this mess? Perhaps he wanted a small Lord of the Rings rehash?
The action is presented as if its the most spectacular things ever brought to the screen. The first explosion of the movie really made me crackup. A small wooden shed exploded in extreme slow-motion with a stunt person flying in slow motion away from the explosion. So incredibly over-the-top, I mean a it's a small woodshed! But yet the movie tries to make it look like a large, wooden, gunpowder filled ship is blowing up. The movie features far too many unneeded slow motion action sequences. I hate it when a movie uses bluntly slow motion as a tool to make the simple action look more spectacular, especially when it really isn't.
The movie is not just poorly written, it's also very poorly put together. The movie features some plain bad editing and musical score. I've you have a musical score like this one, you're probably better of not having a musical score at all! The movie further more also features some awkward humor. The kind that just isn't funny in a movie, though it all probably looked good and hilarious on paper. The movie also has some of the worst and most annoying sound effects I've heard in a long time. Lowest point of the movie its sound effects; the constant fake put over giggling of a couple of youngster who enter a dragon cave. Incredibly annoying and fake.
But no, it's not among the worst movies I've ever seen. The movie sill offers some good clean fun entertainment, even though the execution of it all is far from brilliant. The movie is very predictable and it tries very hard to be better than it really is. It makes the movie unintendedly laughable at times.
4/10
Watch trailer
This is one of the most badly written movies I've seen in a long time.
The movie is quit ridicules. The movie is about dragons from outer space(!) who are attacking a kingdom during the dark ages. A team gets assembled to defeat the 5 remaining dragons. But like that's not enough already, the movie is also about a conspiracy by the bad king to overthrow to the good king, though both kings seemed like bad ones to me to be honest.
The movie is quite laughable. It tries to be spectacular, funny and even epic. It tries so hard that it becomes ultimately laughable, because the movie itself is far from spectacular, funny and especially epic. The production values of the movie are far too low, though the movie certainly does not feature the wost special effects I've ever seen, especially considering that this is a made-for-TV-movie. That perhaps was the only thing that surprised me positively about the movie.
Otherwise the movie isn't too good looking. The sets are obvious ruins and the mass scenes are a disgrace. Launching a full scale attack on a kingdom with about 15, under equipped, men is a very laughable thing to watch, especially because throughout the movie the attack is presented as a great and serious threat to the kingdom.
The movie is filled with many unlikely characters. The main 'hero' is horrible looking, with an obvious fake wig. The rest of the dragon-slayer team consist out of the formulaic characters you would expect. None of them is really interesting or gets developed well enough in the movie. How did John Rhys-Davies ever got mixed up in this mess? Perhaps he wanted a small Lord of the Rings rehash?
The action is presented as if its the most spectacular things ever brought to the screen. The first explosion of the movie really made me crackup. A small wooden shed exploded in extreme slow-motion with a stunt person flying in slow motion away from the explosion. So incredibly over-the-top, I mean a it's a small woodshed! But yet the movie tries to make it look like a large, wooden, gunpowder filled ship is blowing up. The movie features far too many unneeded slow motion action sequences. I hate it when a movie uses bluntly slow motion as a tool to make the simple action look more spectacular, especially when it really isn't.
The movie is not just poorly written, it's also very poorly put together. The movie features some plain bad editing and musical score. I've you have a musical score like this one, you're probably better of not having a musical score at all! The movie further more also features some awkward humor. The kind that just isn't funny in a movie, though it all probably looked good and hilarious on paper. The movie also has some of the worst and most annoying sound effects I've heard in a long time. Lowest point of the movie its sound effects; the constant fake put over giggling of a couple of youngster who enter a dragon cave. Incredibly annoying and fake.
But no, it's not among the worst movies I've ever seen. The movie sill offers some good clean fun entertainment, even though the execution of it all is far from brilliant. The movie is very predictable and it tries very hard to be better than it really is. It makes the movie unintendedly laughable at times.
4/10
Watch trailer
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