Dark Knight

We rented this as a DVD called "Darkest Knight," based on the DVD cover and the description, which implied it featured dragon battles (it appealed to our five-year-old). Within a minute of watching, it was apparent that this was a TV series, not a movie.

The acting is frighteningly over the top. Ben Pullen was very charming in the romantic comedy "The Intern," but here he chews the scenery up -- but not as much as the show baddie, Mordour (yes, someone was reading Tolkien). All of the acting is beyond earnest -- old-school theatrical, and not very good, either.

The story of Ivanhoe is interesting enough on its own, but this series tries in vain to affect the location, style and appeal of the HERCULES and XENA series, but is, in reality, humorless.

The special effects are really laughable -- there's much better supernatural effects to be found on BUFFY and ANGEL. It's closer to "Power Rangers" than it is anything remotely like what Ivanhoe should be like.

Don't tune in for hyper-realistic depictions of history. Tune in for fun costumes, overacting, interchangeable set pieces, comedy, sword fights, taverns, maidens, monsters, magic and wizards.

It's all done purposely, it doesn't take itself very seriously. But it also isn't laughing at or insulting the viewer by mailing it in and being cynical.

Each episode has the heroes faced with another mystery, another bad guy or another quest to go on. Of course they win, of course the bad guys lose and of course we laugh along the way. That's what it's all about!

It's a lot of fun if you're into this kind of old school adventure show. Fans of the genre will love it.

Personally, the series isn't as bad as some others make it out to be. It isn't a blockbuster by any means, but, it does hold some fun watching. The acting isn't poor at all, yet it isn't suppose to be fantastic. It is no different then Xena or some others. It is kind of like a D&D adventure series too. Set in medieval times, it is a fantasy based series during the time of king Richard when he was imprisoned and his brother John had the throne. There is magic in it as well as strange creatures. Dragons are shown on the DVD covers, but there are only a few episodes so they didn't get to any that had dragons in them. Just have an open mind and you may like it. I wish there were more then the few episodes. I have them all.

I rented this from our local video store, hoping for what the back of the movie said was a fantastic fantasy including fights with dragons, magic and battle scenes. Ultimately, while there were no "dragon fights", there were several scenes of hand "animated" magic and overacting by the character Mordor. The overacting was to such an extreme it put his character into the borderline hilarity to allow us to have some comic relief.

All in all, I would have to say if you go into this knowing it's a "b" movie and need a good laugh, you're sure to get it. This could have been something great, but low budgets and cutting corners resulted in something that can't be taken seriously.

Great action sequences! Captivating and enchanting story lines. A breath of fresh air as English and New Zealand actors bring to life a colourful world of sword and sorcery, monsters and mayhem.

Highly recommended.