Tales of an Ancient Empire

As soon as I saw that this was out, I rented it. Wow, what a piece of crap. It had none of the fun of the original and really didn't even tell a story at all. Lee Horsley Does appear but only for a minute and it is disappointing. Some of the plot devices from the original are used but wasted and the whole thing appears to be shot on video. The Tri-Sword appears off camera but is used very poorly. Michael Pare takes the place as the hero/ betrayer of the Sorceress vampire Whatever. Every episode of Hercules is better than this piece of junk. If you want a movie worth of the original, try "season of the Witch" or Solomon Kane.

One thing about TALES OF AN ANCIENT EMPIRE it can now be placed alongside John Carpenter's PRINCE OF DARKNESS as one of the films with the longest pre-credit sequences that stretches for about 12 minutes long. When it does get started it shows a lot of potential in terms of plot and the cast all give competent performances all around. The look of the film isn't bad in fact but it's major downfall is that it has a terrible execution especially during the third act.

The first half of the film is watchable but once it passes the hour mark it's almost like the story was rushed just to get to the end. The whole plot from there became incredibly confusing and felt like the scriptwriter Cynthia Curnan just wanted to get it done as if she got tired of working on it.

The one thing that could've helped this film be more entertaining would've been to give Olivier Gruner and Sasha Mitchell's characters both a much bigger role in this film. They only make brief appearances but in that short time their characters actually seemed likable and both had great on screen chemistry. The film would've been a whole lot better if it was written as a vehicle for them.

Overall, It's a potentially good concept undone by a bad execution.

I agree with jewel5's review, I had not seen Lee Horsley in anything since he did the series "Paradise", He was a very popular actor in the 1980's. He had the starring role in " Sword and the Sorcerer", and I thought this was a sequel to his character "Talon". I was totally wrong about that, he had a very small cameo role and was listed as "The Stranger"?? This movie was a mess from the beginning, and Michael Pare's acting was terrible, he sounds like he is reading "Q" cards. I guess Lee Horsley's acting career is limited to "cameo" roles of less than "B" movies now, this is a shame that a gifted actor such as Horsley is reduced to this because of his age(mid 50's I believe). I rated this a 1 out of 10, but it should be a 0 out of ten!!

This type of production should be illegal. It's a waste of money, that could have fed many starving children somewhere in the world. It has no entertainment value. Mostly it seems like a group of former porn film actors had decided to make a non-porn film, but failed miserably. Sure you get to see some tits(which is probably the reason why some praise the movie), but even the tits are as bad in quality as the movie itself.

Val Kilmer? Where? The Val Kilmer I remember was an actual actor! Not a wanna-be porn star.

What I liked about the film, was that it was on DVD, so I could speed it up to finish it sooner. Breathtakingly bad movie.

I don't really know what to say. I think I can make better CGI in paint, and the acting is better in porno movies. Kevin Sorbo did a good job, but you get the same amount of good acting in the Hercules TV show. Melissa Ordway on the other hand, wow, you know she got this part for her pretty face, not her acting skills. If you want some kind of adventure, STAY AWAY! Go for a walk in a park and hit a tree with a twig. Wow! Much better fun than this movie... Catwoman is better than this movie... It might seem like I am only bitching, but I feel like I need to warn people about this half made movie...Oh yes, this is only part 1...and no part 2 has been started...