Midnight Chronicles

Picture a world very similar to that of Tolkien's Middle Earth. You've got orcs, elves, a dark bad guy much like Sauron and everything but with one significant twist: 100 years ago, the bad guy won. This is the world of Midnight Chronicles.

Some context: this world first appear as a "Campaign setting" for the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game. A campaign setting, for the non-initiated simply being a world backdrop for your game adventures.

Christian T. Petersen is primarily known as the president of Fantasy Flight Games, a company that excels at making various board games, roleplaying games and also imports and translates several amazing board games from Europe. This is his first foray as a director and although I've seen worse, there really is a sense that he did not have the technical knowledge to pull this extremely ambitious project.

There are a few positives, though. Charles Hubbell is pretty good in the role of the main character, Mag Kiln. The character has a little bit of Shades of grey but essentially, is an envoy of "the bad guy". As such, it is fascinating because usually, protagonists in epic fantasy are clearly "good guys". The only other actor who is decent is Sam L. Landman who plays Kruce. He is Mag Kiln's sidekick and definitely has the best lines in the movie and injects a bit of wit in what is otherwise an overly dramatic affair. The rest of the cast ranges from decent to really bad. The writing doesn't help either. Many of the characters are bland stereotypes, while others do seem to have depth which is ruined by a confusing plot.

And this is what basically kills any hope this movie has: the story overfeeds us with awkward plot exposition. There are several characters to keep track of but few are given enough attention for us to care. It has been said Midnight Chronicles was to act as a calling card, a pilot for a potential TV series and this shows. After all these characters are presented and a plot that moves very slowly, the movie ends abruptly on a less than thrilling sequence. As if you had to put "DVD2" in your player.

It's a little heartbreaking for me to review this labor of love. The attempt at making a darker fantasy is laudable. And although the whole movie looks amateurish, it must have cost the producers (8 of them, including Petersen) an arm and a leg. The introduction sequence alone features tons of extras on a road. There are horse scene, several sets were build and the 3D is amateurish but still pretty.

It all comes down to writing, acting and direction. I can feel the love in this independent project but the skills are lacking. Here's hoping it's still picked for a TV series as there is much potential if additional writers tighten this up.

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.

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 ;).

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.

First thing i did after watching this movie was go on the internet to see if it actually was the pilot to Midnight the series i'd been watching. Unfortunately this wasn't the case which has left me with a very unsatisfied feeling. You do get a good introduction into the world of Midnight, but when you feel the story is just about to take off the ending credits start playing. I just hope the makers of this movie see the actual potential of the story and decide that they have made a pilot after all and not a film that has to carry its own weight.

The acting actually wasn't too bad and the sceneries combined with the computer generated settings gave the movie an authentic feel.