Dragon Hunter

Lets take a look at the summary..

Orphaned as a baby when his parents were killed in a vicious orc attack, Kendrick of Elwood was raised by his elder brother, Darius. Though only nine at the time, Darius devoted his life to Kendrick's care and to purging orcs from their land. As Darius grew into a great warrior, he sheltered Kendrick from all possible harm. Now, after years of absence, a new danger emerges, more lethal than the threat of orcs or men. Reports of dragon attacks spread like wildfire through the panicked land. In memory of his mother's prophesies of a mighty Dragon Hunter in their bloodline, Darius leads Kendrick on a perilous journey to the castle of Ocard - the Dragon Hunter training grounds. As they battle through evil men and orc-infested lands, they align with a band of rogue warriors who swear their allegiance in this hazardous quest. The Brothers of Elwood, joined by Raya, an elven princess, Olick, a mute Berserker, and five human mercenaries must escape orc ambushes and dragon attacks to reach the fortress at Ocard. Will dragons completely decimate the countryside? Only the Dragon Hunter will decide! The summary itself is wrong, at no point in the movie is the word "princess" even mentioned. The "mute" berserker speaks thus hardly making him "mute".

I had no hopes for this movie because I actually enjoy low budget fantasy movies. This movie however can only be summed up by one word "terribad". It isn't the plot, it isn't the acting, it isn't the fact the characters have no depth, its the horrible camera work that makes this unwatchable. You can not see any fighting as the camera starts being shaken every time there is a battle, not slightly but to the point where you can not see anything. The ended was...well...wow...that bad. I have nothing else to say.

Less than 10 minutes into the show, the "shaky cam" alone was enough to make this a no-watch. Wow... absolutely terrible directing and choreography. If anyone suffers from motion sickness at all, this is a definite skip. Worst. camera. work. ever.

In times of orcs and dragons, the orphan Kendrick (Maclain Nelson) was raised by his overprotective brother Darius (Erik Denton). When their village is attacked by dragons, they have to move through the woods seeking the land of Ocard where a dragon hunter should be trained. They teem-up with a group of warriors wandering in the forest and the walk together to Ocard, in a dangerous journey under the attack of orcs and dragons. When they arrive in their destination, Darius discloses a secret to his brother.

"Dragon Hunter" is a terrible low-budget fantasy movie. The story of a fearful young man that is permanently protected by his older brother and in the end becomes a brave dragon hunter is inconsistent and incoherent; further it is disclosed through awful amateurish camera work and edition specially in the fight scenes; very poor special effects, sets and costumes; and the dialogs are very weak and do not help the unknown cast to have better performances. This flick is highly recommended for insomnia. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "O Caçador de Dragão" ("The Dragon Hunter")

If you take a look at the rating the experience of watching this movie will offer you no surprises. It is not a good movie. I will go even so far as to call it a bad movie.

Now, as to what makes this movie so bad, I would say "the characters". Oh, I might even exclaim "The characters!". For they possess absolutely no depth. They are shallow husks, waiting to be filled with life and back story. And the the other thing is the really bad camera work. Whenever there is a fight scene the camera starts shaking so you can't make out anything. I am not yet sure if the camera operator got a seizure from excitement or if he got bored and started polishing Lord Vader's helmet, if you catch my meaning. I hope it was the latter, so at least one person got some fun out of this whole mess.

When the movie ended (yes, I endured the entire thing), I sat there staring at the screen and uttered the words, "What the heck?" I felt like I just watched a fantasy-themed production from the early 1970s. I gave it 2 stars only because Kelly Stables was a decent actress, but even she was not convincing in her role. The low budget was obvious, especially during the fight scenes when apparently they could only afford to hire an undernourished person for holding the heavy camera. Either camera mounting gear was unavailable on those days for renting, or it was just cheaper to hire someone off the street who lacked the strength to hold the camera steady.

Guess no one in the editing team has access to after effects software. Lighting, mood setting, color tinting--you know, the visual impact basics that decorate the scenes with an altered element--were completely absent. Heh...the outfits worn by the villagers with fresh dirt applied in an attempt to give a worn, soiled look was a severe distraction.

Intrigue is what captivates an audience. Character depth, convincing roles, unpredictable story lines, and visual impact create intrigue. This movie had nothing in the way of intrigue.

This ranks as the second worst production in my viewing list. The actors may want to strike this from their tear sheet list of accomplishments.