Mythica: The Darkspore

Low budget excellent entertainment! I am a great fan of fantasy and dungeons and dragons (the game). Quite a lot of movies were made with D&D in mind. Some better than others, usually on a low budget and sometimes a bit too much wanting it to be "just like the game". This might give you the feeling that acting and the stage feel a bit forced. However in the Mythica series it is not as prominent, although visible every once in a while. But really get sucked in the story and forget to pay to much detail to the low budget scenes and environments. In a way a sort of nice "I could be there" feeling, which I like about these kind of movies. If you are in to fantasy and play dungeons and dragons you will not be disappointed! Watch these movies and enjoy! Don't expect blockbusting setups or scenes but let these actors and plot suck you in and entertain you.

Because it's a continuation movie, it lacks the "newness" factor that always gives the first in any series a boost.

For those who enjoyed the first of the set, it's certainly worth seeing this second one too - it's an enjoyable watch with its own story, and it has a few surprises. The characters work well and have their own personalities that all get a chance to properly take their part in the story.

For those who have not seen the first, I would recommend watching them in order, beginning with the first.

The first movie, Mythica: A Quest for Heroes, was not a bad movie but with some major debits and not an awful lot special about it. It was watchable if on the mediocre side if anything. Its first sequel Mythica: The Darkspore quality-wise is about the same (though with a couple of improvements), watchable with nothing to get angry or excited about.

Where it improves on its predecessor is in most of the production values. It's a very nicely photographed movie and more focused in terms of camera work and the scenery is more sweeping and boasts more colour and a little more atmosphere. Costumes and sets allow one to get suitably immersed in the fantasy world that is being portrayed. The acting is also much improved. Melanie Stone, one of the best things about the first movie, gives another very good performance, and the character is engaging and well-rounded. Nicola Posener's acting is more natural to her rather stiff acting in the previous movie, and while his screen time is still rather short Kevin Sorbo does have more to do and he does seem more involved.

Mythica: The Darkspore's music score is suitably stirring and grand, it also fits better than in the first movie (though it was still one of the better assets before as well) and is recorded better. The humour is much less awkward here thankfully, sure there were times where it wasn't really needed but it's better placed and its tongue-in-cheek nature is actually amusing, even with a character that could have been obnoxious if executed wrongly.

However, the special effects are a mixed bag. At best they just pass muster (never more than that), but in other places they do look ropey, the encounter with the mythical entity indeed looks distractingly bad. The action is even more clumsily executed than in the first, being unexciting and under-choreographed and it all looks too safe. Some sloppy editing and lack of interaction in the scenes featuring any action are further disadvantages, not being more apparent in the big fight towards the end which was rushed in storytelling which hurt the coherence of it, terribly clumsy in staging and pedestrian in choreography.

Regarding the script, the humour is nice and there are some interesting parts but it's still a bit trite and could have explained things much more. The direction has some imaginative moments, but is mostly of the getting-the-job-done-in-a-routine-fashion type, and while kudos is due making the story darker and more complex this time round instead of the non-stop thrill ride it should have been it was somewhat inconsistent. There are some nice moments that maintain interest and it does have more heart than its predecessor, but it does drag in spots and bumps along, with variable momentum, rather than flowing smoothly. The characters are never annoying, but only the main character is properly interesting, the rest are there with shades of a likable personality but little development and some like some of the mythical characters were not always needed.

All in all, not bad, nothing special. Passes the time without one getting irked or raving. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This film, the second in a three part series, was very well-done and enjoyable. I thought the character development in the first would have done well to continue in the second but there seems to be a disconnect in the relationships amongst the main characters that should not have existed based on the limited information that everybody had - especially at the beginning. Still, overall, a good product but just a tick less than the previous installment. Great acting, good storyline, sub-par CG/special effects (which is to be expected). ARROWSTORM knows how to make really good B movies. Now they have a good enough reputation that I am going to look up by production company to see what else they've put out. Enjoy this most recent installment of Mythica and we all await, Mythica: Necromancer (out this year, 2015, according to IMDb.com). This movie rates better than a 4.1 which shows as of the time I am writing this review. Get out of the visual dependency on high-end CG/special effects and enjoy these good stories for what they are... good stories. Be entertained, folks!

The party continues on their quest, this time helped by a dark elf with mysterious markings, while a warlock is trying to beat them to their goal. Unfortunately, it seemed like the makers made a lot less effort for this film, especially in the areas of character interaction and storyline. That's unfortunate, especially since I loved A Quest for Heroes.

Some commentators focused on the quality of the special effects. I don't care about those, but this is an indicator that those people didn't feel the characters were important or the story inspiring, and that is on the script writer. If the story is great and the characterization well done, no one looks twice on the special effects. I think that, while I still enjoyed the film, more effort should be made to make the viewers feel with the characters in a story that one could believe in.

Bottom line: fun film, really inconsistent characters, jumping from love to hate on a whim, and a disappointing and rushed ending that made little sense. I hope the next part will be more engaging.