Mythica: The Darkspore

Following on the heels of the last story, our heroes discover that Teela’s sister, Caeryn, was killed by a necromancer immediately after she had left the Hammerhead Tavern where the party was still celebrating their victory over the ogre.  The party breaks apart.  While Teela mourns her sister, Thane sinks into a drunken stupor, and Dagen exercises his libido, Marek hides in the woods as she is still a slave and being hunted.  It is then that Gojun Pye (Kevin Sorbo) returns and tells the tale of the Darkspore.

 

It turns out that the sacred stone that had been hidden in the sacked temple from the first movie was a piece of the Darkspore.  The Darkspore is the heart of the lich king and it grants near limitless power in the hands of a necromancer.  Gojun had defeated the last effort to assemble the Darkspore but this time it is up to Marek.

 

The party is reassembled to track down the necromancer who killed Caeryn.  On the way, they recruit a new member, Qole the Elf.  Interestingly, Qole accuses Dagen of being a half-breed, perhaps explaining why Dagen looks so non-elvish.  Is he just a half-elf?  Qole is built like a linebacker, which makes for an unusual new elf character.  There is a lot more party strife than last time.

 

The script is something of a mess.  Caeryn’s death is told in flashback despite happening at the beginning of the movie.  It feels like it should have had a voice over saying “previously on Mythica.”

 

The epic battle at the conclusion had what is proving to be a standard problem for Arrowstorm: too many orcs.  How is it that our heroes are surrounded by 30 orcs and yet aren’t instantly overwhelmed?  This becomes really awkward when you see orcs in the background swinging their swords at no one.  Perhaps in future films, we could cut back the number of orcs to avoid this.

 

Marek has just killed a dragon, brawled with orcs, sucked the life out of fog wights, and otherwise proven herself a reasonably competent adventurer.  However, when she returns to town, she is dragged back into slavery by a lone pimp.  Really?  You know, this is probably a guy on whom she could use her life-sucking necromancy and not feel guilty.  No, she just lets him shove her in a cell and where she sits helplessly until her friends rescue her.  It’s like she became a different character.  Worse, it feels like it was just tacked on to allow the escaped slave issue be resolved in a cheesy manner.  I liked the idea of the escaped slave subplot but it was executed very poorly.

 

Gojun Pye arrives on scene suddenly as a flock of birds swarm and become him.  He leaves by the same method.  Kind of a cool effect that reminds you of Dracula turning into a bat swarm.  Anyway, if Gojun can travel in this manner, why do we see him riding a horse across the war-torn countryside while clutching the Darkspore?  Also, why isn’t he involved in this quest?  Unlike the ogre quest, this one seems important enough that Gojun should join it, especially since he led the last effort against the Darkspore.

 

The movie has too many characters.  The addition of Qole to the party was unnecessary and wastes time that could have been spent further developing our central characters.  Likewise, the two elfin bounty huntresses could have been merged into one huntress who might have developed a modicum of character.

 

Overall, it is fun but the series needs a new script editor.  Though I like that it builds upon the first movie, too often it does so in an incoherent and clumsy way.