Darius is out hunting when he finds a man who has been badly burned. He
takes the fellow to town where, before dying, the man says he was
attacked by a dragon. Later that night, the dragon attacks the town.
Darius, who is clearly a competent warrior, packs his things and leaves
town with his brother Kendrick. Kendrick thinks they should stay and
fight.
Having escaped the dragon, they brave orc territory and encounter a party of adventurers. The adventurers mistake Darius and Kendrick for human allies of the orcs and a battle commences. Luckily, despite much hacking and slashing, no one is wounded and the two sides reach a truce. In apology for having attacked, the adventurers offer to serve as an escort to the brothers. The escort has a thoughtful leader, a wary lieutenant, a hulking black berserker who is also mute, a pair of prattling bumpkins who will be dragon fodder, a petite archer girl who turns out to be an elf, and a credulous beanpole who survives much longer than expected. That they were unable to overcome the two brothers does not speak highly of their use as escorts. Whatever.
And now we descend into classic gaming: random encounters. Yes, while our band of heroes wander in an almost arbitrary fashion through the wilderness, they must fight orcs, more orcs, and even a dragon. Well, they don't fight the dragon, just hide. Finally, they reach the home town of the adventurers which appears to be three makeshift tents in a clearing (low-budget indeed).
The movie drags. And drags. The fights are clunky. It is not until the last bit of the movie that we discover that Kendrick, Darius' clumsy younger brother, is destined to be the Dragon Hunter. Darius and some wise old man train him in the arts of war and dragon slaying. In the last 10 minutes of the movie, the heroes face the dragon (decent CGI to my surprise). It turns out that Kendrick is fire-proof so he only needs to worry about the teeth and claws, not the fiery breath.
In many ways, this feels a lot like a gaming session. There are not many battles and they are separated by long pauses where the players talk amongst themselves while the DM sets up for the next encounter.
Darius Player: "Hey, I get it on with elf."
Raya the Elf Player: "Yeah, okay. Why not."
DM: "Huh? Whatever."
That about sums up the love story aspect of this movie. Best avoided.
Having escaped the dragon, they brave orc territory and encounter a party of adventurers. The adventurers mistake Darius and Kendrick for human allies of the orcs and a battle commences. Luckily, despite much hacking and slashing, no one is wounded and the two sides reach a truce. In apology for having attacked, the adventurers offer to serve as an escort to the brothers. The escort has a thoughtful leader, a wary lieutenant, a hulking black berserker who is also mute, a pair of prattling bumpkins who will be dragon fodder, a petite archer girl who turns out to be an elf, and a credulous beanpole who survives much longer than expected. That they were unable to overcome the two brothers does not speak highly of their use as escorts. Whatever.
And now we descend into classic gaming: random encounters. Yes, while our band of heroes wander in an almost arbitrary fashion through the wilderness, they must fight orcs, more orcs, and even a dragon. Well, they don't fight the dragon, just hide. Finally, they reach the home town of the adventurers which appears to be three makeshift tents in a clearing (low-budget indeed).
The movie drags. And drags. The fights are clunky. It is not until the last bit of the movie that we discover that Kendrick, Darius' clumsy younger brother, is destined to be the Dragon Hunter. Darius and some wise old man train him in the arts of war and dragon slaying. In the last 10 minutes of the movie, the heroes face the dragon (decent CGI to my surprise). It turns out that Kendrick is fire-proof so he only needs to worry about the teeth and claws, not the fiery breath.
In many ways, this feels a lot like a gaming session. There are not many battles and they are separated by long pauses where the players talk amongst themselves while the DM sets up for the next encounter.
Darius Player: "Hey, I get it on with elf."
Raya the Elf Player: "Yeah, okay. Why not."
DM: "Huh? Whatever."
That about sums up the love story aspect of this movie. Best avoided.
I watched this back in May 2010. The writer/director, Stephen Shimek, has done a few other movies, most notable is Dragon Warriors from last year. I enjoyed that one, though it was often campy.
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