Dungeons and Dragons- Wrath of the dragon god DVD

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Better than the first movie
Disadvantages:	Not much better than the first movie

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Being a huge Dungeons & Dragons fan, I found myself greatly disappointed by the first movie, after the hype surrounding it the actual result was appalling, bad acting, terrible plot and poor special effects. When I heard there was another movie in the pipeline I had mixed feelings, there was great potential for a truly amazing movie or they could repeat their first mistakes and produce and enormous pile of dung! Tentatively I started watching.

Here I will be reviewing the film only(i'm telling you that now as there is no criteria to fill in below).

First I will provide you with a brief summery of the first film as one of the characters makes a large appearance in the 2nd movie.

Dungeons & Dragons-
"Empress Savina Rules over the magical empire Izmer. The young thieves Ridley and Snails get involved with her quest to find the legendary Scepter of Savrille. With this most desirable magical wand she could have the power to rule over the Red Dragons and she would then be able to provide freedom and equality amongst all people. Ridley and Snails are closely followed by Damodar, the cruel assistant of Profion who is longing for the power of the Scepter. Profion wants to get into battle with the Empress. Whenever Profion would get his hands on the Scepter, the whole empire would then forever live in darkness. The future depends on the braveness of Ridley and Snails..." Written by ItsPeet IMDB.com

Dungeons & Dragons Wrath Of The Dragon God-
Over 1,000 years ago, the powerful mages of Turan defied Falazure, the Dragon God bringing death their land. The mages finally defeated Falazure and imprisoned him in Hearth Mountain and sealed his powers in a black orb hoping hold the dragon forever. Villagers seek the aid of Berek the former captain of the king’s guard after 2 men who were exploring the caves went missing, with the help of his wife Melora he discovers the story of Falazure and realizes the Empire is under threat.

Thanks to an evil curse that Profion placed on Damodar, the warrior has come back from the dead. After centuries of pursuing an ancient artifact Damodar finally acquires the mysterious black orb by fighting his way through a whirling vortex. Having released himself from his curse Damodar aims to set free an ancient evil upon the city of Izmer, an act of revenge against the ancestors of those who placed the curse upon him, it is up to Berek, Melora, a talented magic user, and a small group of heroes to stop the evil before it destroys the city. Together the heroes must face Damodar and his evil army, survive dungeons and mazes as well as face the might of the god of undead dragons.

Cast-
As with all movies there are many cast and crew members who contribute, however I will only mention a few key people below.

Bruce Payne ... Damodar
Mark Dymond ... Berek
Clemency Burton-Hill ... Melora
Ellie Chidzey ... Lux
Tim Stern ... Nim
Steven Elder ... Dorian
Lucy Gaskell ... Ormaline
Roy Marsden ... Oberon
Geoffrey T. Bersey ... Galtar

Crew-
Director-Gerry Lively
Writers-Robert Kimmel, Gerry Lively, Brian Rudnick
Producer-David Korda (executive producer)
Special Effects -Michael Clifford

My Opinion-
Well it's not all bad, the story is slightly more convincing then that of the first film and whereas the first movie was very Americanized and modern in its attitude, the second film strives to be a more traditional fantasy movie. It draws a lot on the AD&D gaming rules, which unless you are a player you wont notice however it gives the film a little more realism within the world of fantasy films, spells go wrong, heroes die, mistakes are made. Although the early demise of one character does leave you asking "what was the point in that guy?" other than of course to be able to include the CGI white dragon.

The movie is clearly much lower in it's budget then the first movie, the big name stars are reduced to Bruce Payne who played Damodar, this is to the films advantage though as Marlon Wayans as Snails the thief in the first movie just wasn't convincing, we all knew who they were and what other roles they played, meaning they could not be believable in their roles, at least with relatively unknown actors we could concentrate on the story in front of us instead of thinking "wasn't that guy in The New Adventures Of Superman" The casting isn't great though, Mark Dymond as Berek is too lightly built and middle aged looking to make a convincing AD&D warrior while Clemency Burton Hill as his wife Melora is inappropriately cast as the magic user, Lucy Gaskell as Ormaline looks far from how you would imagine an elf to look and as for Ellie Chidzey as the barbarian Lux, well she was definitely put in for the boys as your typical barbarian description is not blonde, beautiful and curvy. The lines are often delivered badly, very wooden and verging on cheesy at times, while you expect a bit of swashbuckling talk you also want them to talk like real people, for example "Come, villainy. Death awaits you" a line delivered by Lux as she stands alone in front of a portal spewing flying harpies, when you are unsure as to the nature and size of what you are about to face you should not be so gung ho or cliché.

The special effects are mixed, some are quite impressive especially the CGI beasties, however the money invested in them was clearly taken from elsewhere on the project leaving some of the backgrounds, props and costumes looking more like the Blue Peter crew had helped make them, Damodars make up when "undead" is a clear example of this and is far from convincing as anything more than a rubber mask.

The soundtrack is nothing special, it could be taken from any low budget sci-fi fantasy movie. A combination of different instrumental pieces meant to represent the moment- danger, excitement, sorrow.............

So you can gather I wasn't exactly impressed, while it is a faint improvement on the first film it has no where near reached its potential. This is a series of films that could equal Lord Of The Rings, if only someone could put in the funds, effort and a bit of real passion. Let some real AD&D fans come up with the plot, cast and direct it, maybe that way you would finally be offered a Dungeons and Dragons film worthy of the fans faith in them.

It's one of those films that you can follow easily and flows well, it's an OK film to watch but nothing spectacular, if you're after a different fantasy movie then give it a go but if you want a great film, full of amazing talent and effects then this is not the film for you. I would recommend it to potential buyers purely because it's better than the first film, if you can sit through such films as "legend" and "Dragonslayer" then you'll easily manage this one.