SAGA - Curse of the Shadow

This movie was surprisingly good. The story is relatively simple, but the interesting characters (especially the orc, Kullimon, "ha ha ha") along with great music and pictures made it work.

It's not as "shiny" and overdone as Hollywood products and I think that's its biggest strength. Special effects (which are very good for a low budget production) were kept to the scenes where it makes sense and not used carelessly. The landscape and scenery are so much better than anything you're used to from big movies, because it's actually real and not 50% CGI. It doesn't look oversaturated and edited, but really natural, which adds a lot of immersion that most movies are lacking nowadays.

Overall it's a really nice movie and I can definitely recommend it to people who like the genre.

Somewhere in time and space, there is a battle between the evil and the good. The Prophets of The Order are trying to restore civilization while The Shadow is trying to revive the God of Death.

The female elf bounty hunter Nemyt Akaia (Danielle Chuchran) fights against the criminal Fangtor Bloodmoon (Adam Abram) and kills him. However she is cursed by him with the Shadow mark on her wrist. When she goes to the nearby castle to collect her reward, she is arrested because of the mark and sentenced to death. Meanwhile the human Ambassador of Light Keltus the Wanderer (Richard McWilliams) chases the dwarf Gyarmuck (James C. Morris) to find the real intentions of the Shadow and he learns that the orcs have a powerful vessel that they will sell to the Shadow representative. Keltus heads to the castle where Nemyt is imprisoned and he finds that she has discovered where the orcs are going. He brings her with him to seek out the horde of orcs and promises that the Prophetess would help her to get rid off her mark.

On the beginning of their journey they find Kullimon the Black (Paul D. Hunt) that was left behind tied up to two trees by his former horde after being betrayed by the orc Mulgrut (Kyle Paul). The unlikable trio teams up in a journey to avoid that the God of Death returns life and destroys civilization.

"SAGA – Curse of the Shadow" is a low-budget adventure in a magic world of elves, orcs, dragons and forces of light and shadows. The story is rushed in the beginning certainly due to the budget constraint and the screenplay is uneven. The choreography of the many fights is terrible, the repetitive music score is annoying and the acting is reasonable only. But the flick is watchable in a rainy day afternoon. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "SAGA – A Maldição das Sombras" ("SAGA – Curse of the Shadow")

A pretty well done fantasy film of mythical characters and magic powers. The actors played their roles nicely. With suiting effects and suiting costumes the movie introduces the viewer in that world of legend. I would say the movies was better than most Hollywood movies. The whole crew that done this movie did a very well job; The orcs looked vividly orc-ish and the elf girl has played her part well. And of course the human hero was no less impressive. The story was not amazing, but was good enough thanks the writers. I will give it a well deserved 7 out of 10. Despite the low budget the movie was surprisingly decent.

I saw this film accidentally, with zero warning, so to speak. It looked as if it was interesting enough, so after watching the trailer and a bit of pondering, I decided to go and check it out. (Besides, I tend to enjoy watching bad films - I saw Uwe Boll's "Alone in the Dark" after reading all the bad reviews - so nothing could go wrong, right?) And yes, nothing went wrong, I actually quite enjoyed the film. Yes, it was a bit cheap and the (sparingly used) CGI weren't top quality, but that's quite understandable given the film's limited budget. The music was very nice, and the costumes were spot-on, with the orcs looking quite good. (Fun fact: There were more fantastic races in this film than there were humans.) Speaking about the races though, the film certainly reminds more of WarCraft III than of Tolkien, but it only "reminds", nothing more. We didn't see a lot of dwarfs, unfortunately. The story was reasonably good and the action scenes were abundant. I'd have loved more character development and more introduction to the world (the first 10-15 minutes of the film were mostly swordfights), but it works as it is. The film is gripping and interesting enough, and worth a watch. Just don't expect something too amazing. It seems to be based on a video game and I've heard rumours about other films (or TV series? I'm not certain, sorry) in the same universe, which I'd certainly give a shot to as well.

A solid 6/10 from me, but it's very near to the 7.

NB: Note that there is some blood and a bit of gore in this film, which some viewers might find displeasing.

This film is a guilty pleasure. If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be 'earnest'.

What we have here is a group of people who wanted to make a fantasy epic with a very limited budget. The special effects are passable, and the costumes and choreography make up for the other limitations.

The acting is at best so-so. The elf, Nemyt is pleasing on the eyes and is certainly athletic in the fight scenes, but has very limited acting range (if you want 'suppressed rage', she is your girl).

The script is lifted straight from the D&D cliche book. I laughed out loud when the cleric/paladin says "out of the way, old crone" to the quite obviously beautiful young women with a shawl over her head. Other memorable lines include "this was always the plan" and "we meet again - for the last time". It all feels so familiar, like a comfortable pair of slippers.

I cannot help but respect a film that takes itself so seriously. I came away with a silly smile on my face, and so I must recommend it to all fantasy enthusiasts out there.