Midnight Chronicles

Yesterday I tried to watch "Midnight Chronicles" along three hours. This film is so boring that I slept and was able to see less than forty minutes.

The pretentious story begins with a narrative, telling that the Dark God Izrador was cast out from heaven to Earth, raising a realm of shadows in the north. After the third war, Izrador defeats the people of south and begins his kingdom of darkness using legates and the beasts named orcs to control the populations.

Unfortunately the promising beginning of this low-budget film goes to nowhere and the awful screenplay does not develop characters and situations that are thrown in the screen.

Today I have finally finished watching "Midnight Chronicles" and this flick is lame. There is no action, there are ham actors and actresses, and the camera uses closes of the faces of actors and actress like in soap operas.

I have surprisingly found that there are good reviews in IMDb, but they are fake and if the reader pays attention, he or she will see that the foregoing reviews belong to authors with only one review published in IMDb to promote this film and lure the readers. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Crônicas da Meia-Noite" ("Midnight Chronicles")

The costumes are great and the overall setting well crafted. Except for the the cheap below TV quality recording the look of the movie is really good. The acting is very mixed, some characters are played well, but most actors are as uninspired as the pace of the movie which drags on and on.

I agree with the other comments about this movie, there are some good ideas in the story but they aren't played out. For a hundred minutes you wait for something to happen that's being hinted on and then the movie is through after a short and totally meaningless "climax" that makes you think: Was the whole movie just a character introduction?

The high rating of this movie on IMDb comes as a big surprise. I only gave it 3/10 as a thank you for the costumes and scenery and because I am in a very good mood while typing this. I think the other voters are the actors of the movie who received a bonus to come here and give it a good rating ;).

Coming into this film, I had no pretensions. I am only somewhat familiar with the Midnight RPG that this is based on, and I must admit, the setting is one of the best parts about this deathly slow film. At an hour and forty minutes, it certainly feels its length.

Set in a kingdom held under the weight of a near eternal darkness, the bulk of the story follows a 'Legate', a sort of warrior/mage that are the inquisitors of the world, doing the bidding of the godlike 'Darkness'. There is a lot of mythology in the story, way to much for its ambitions. I found the setting to be tantalizing and evocative. The filmmakers used most of their budget on moody VFX shots of cityscapes filled with towers and castles, but left little for the costumes and actors. I swear, most of the actors in the film were culled from the nearest community theater where the film was shot. With the exception of the darkly intriguing Charles Hubbel as the Legate Mag Kiln, none of the actors are interesting in the least.

In the end, the film really does try to tell an intrigue laden story, but it is constantly sabotaged by its own ambitions. This story and world may have worked in the hands of a better director, better actors and a more coherent, less busy script. If you're interested, check it out, otherwise skip it.

This fantasy movie is set in a world where the bad guys won. Consequently, most of the running time is describing what the bad guys are doing. Good guys also appear, but they are not the main characters. This whole set-up is a refreshing break from the whole lot of other genre movies clinging to the hero all the time. It's a shame that apparently many reviews are rather negative because many people wouldn't want a picture outside the frame of the usual clichés. The effects and acting have the quality of a TV series, not a zillion dollar blockbuster, but since we all watch TV series, too, I don't think that should be much of a problem. I enjoyed the movie - except the sudden ending, without a sequel for me to see. The makers of such movies deserve more praise, I'd say.

For a low budget film I thought this was actually quite well done. It was 10x the film the Dungeon and Dragon movies were, and makes all the Uwe Boll films look pathetic in comparison *cough*Bloodrayne*cough*.

What I particularly liked was they didn't waste a red cent on horribly mediocre stunt work, and pointless fight scenes with silly explosions. They stuck to the story, and clearly knew their limitations. I'd put this film slightly above the much larger budgeted Eragon, and it left me wanting more, not wishing I had the last 2 hours of my life back.

I look forward to a sequel to this fanfilm'esquire first attempt, or at least get more substantial directorial work for Christian Petersen.