Dark Kingdom

Well, here was a surprisingly brief review from March 30, 2006:

 

The miniseries Dark Kingdom aired on the Scifi channel on Monday and Tuesday. It told the tale of Siegfried, a hero of German Mythology, which apparently was used as inspiration for Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Though the purists have been let down by this telling of The Niebelungenlied, I found it to be entertaining. There was a sword forged from the core of a meteor, a cursed ring, a dragon (pretty good CGI for it too), a hat of disguise, a love potion, and even blood that granted invulnerability. But, unlike the typical fantasy movie that tries to get by with nothing more than the magical trinkets, this had a coherent - though unlikely - storyline and was even a tragedy. So, I give it a thumbs up.

 

It turns out that this movie was filmed in South Africa and its original title was Curse of the Ring.  Had a bit of trouble locating it on IMDb.  Kristanna Loken, Julian Sands, Max von Sydow, and even Robert Pattison (before the Twilight movies) star.  Even Ralf Moeller, probably best known for his part in Gladiator though I think of him as Conan from the short-lived TV series, has a role.  If I saw this was playing on SciFi, I would watch it again.