Midnight Chronicles

I agree that most of the set designs were pretty good for a low budget fantasy movie. Some of the actors were good but there were some notably terrible ones as well. The writing was horrific. Worst of all was the number of times they referred to "the Legate" or "legates" OMFG it should have stuck out like a sore thumb during the editing process at the very least and should have been caught after the first draft of the screenplay. My friends and I were cackling and wincing every time they said the word. If it were a drinking contest we would have died of alcohol poisoning.

Aside from that, almost NOTHING HAPPENS for the first 70 minutes of the film. The opening slate has a poorly written quotation that is subsequently negated by an overly long and rambling voice over that fails to explain much or move the story forward.

I've played plenty of RPG's and love fantasy fiction but could not love this dog. Avoid it.

This movie was apparently supposed to be a television series based on a pretty good fantasy role playing game that I am vaguely familiar with. Considering that White Wolf had their short lived, but popular Vampire series, I suppose this wasn't a vain hope.

Midnight Chronicles does violate one huge tenant of all good fantasy literature: make one of the characters unfamiliar with the world, so it can be explained to the audience slowly and clearly. If Midnight Chronicles had a Richard Cypher from the non-magical country next door, or a hobbit from the shire, or a Harry Potter who grew up with Muggles or a Gen who comes from a small village on a remote island, or a Paul Atreides who must attend his lessons, or a Buck Rogers from the 20th century, etc. If there was one character who was as lost as me going into it, then it would be fixed.

It only got a 6 because it is a B grade fantasy adventure movie in the grand tradition of Hawk The Hunter, but Midnight Chronicles is better than most of the stuff that get's on TV. Sets and costumes and makeup were decent. Acting was kind of goth and pretentious for film, but better than a lot of TV shows. Even the orc masks were pretty good. Other than violating the "one character must be ignorant" rule, I can see no reason this wasn't picked up for a series. So I wish the best to everyone still pulling for this project.

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.

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.

This fantasy movie is set in a world where the bad guys won. Consequently, most of the running time is describing what the bad guys are doing. Good guys also appear, but they are not the main characters. This whole set-up is a refreshing break from the whole lot of other genre movies clinging to the hero all the time. It's a shame that apparently many reviews are rather negative because many people wouldn't want a picture outside the frame of the usual clichés. The effects and acting have the quality of a TV series, not a zillion dollar blockbuster, but since we all watch TV series, too, I don't think that should be much of a problem. I enjoyed the movie - except the sudden ending, without a sequel for me to see. The makers of such movies deserve more praise, I'd say.