A Era dos Dragões

there were few reasons for why I decided to watch the movie (Despite warnings from my clever friends, who I should listen in the first place).

Reason #1: I like 2 actors who took part in this movie, they are Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones. They're not biggest actors in the world but they are likable fellows who certainly know how to entertain audience.

Reason #2: I like steam-punk and fantasy genres and the movie was promising to mix those two.

Reason #3: I think that Moby-Dick is one of those literature classics that is hard to dislike or hard to be unknown for almost anyone, even the most uneducated people, so it is always interesting when another version of the story occurs on the screens.

So I had 3 great reasons to watch the movie. Favorite actors, favorite genre and the masterpiece, on which the story is based.

I don't know how they managed to screw this, but EVERYTHING in this movie went wrong right from the start.

Actors who knew how to act had nothing to work with. Main character was screaming and begging for overacting and Danny didn't deny him the pleasure. Jones tried to act (his biggest mistake) but that's not what we love him for, so he failed. Other actors weren't actors at all. Maybe they have diplomas, but they didn't act. Oh... and the chick... well, the chick was hot.

The movie is steam-punk without steam, and it's fantasy, only because there are dragons. I can understand how the vagon/ship thing moved though. It was this vitriom (or something) that made it move but they never say a thing about it. The screen was absolutely stripped off by fantasy elements as well. The action was almost non-existent, landscape and surroundings were cheap and the world didn't have anything that makes you dig deeper into the particular universe's lore. Well... at least the chick was hot.

While the plot was based on Moby-Dick, it was stripped away from most interesting points, lowered down to some stupid cheap revenge-story and all the weight of explaining the meaning of the book was thrown at Glover's back. The old man just can't carry that much. Well, the bright side of this was the fact that the chick was hot.

What else can we tell about hour and half of my lost life? That this movie will hardly please anyone, except guys who were paid for making it.

I was going to give this movie 2 stars, instead of one, for only reason: The chick was hot... BUT... God damn it... We didn't even see her naked...

Agreeable retelling in which Captain Ahab commands a surly ship of dragon hunters through sheer ruthlessness and ego . So-so rendition about Herman Melville novel with passable acting from the cast . In this re-imagining , Ahab is revealed initially not as a bitter and revengeful madman but a strange and weird man . This saga features the survivor of a lost ship who relates the tale of a white dragon and the captain Ahab's obsession with desires for vendetta upon the greatest animal . It starts in a village , where arrives a novice named Ishmael (Corey Silver) who signs aboard the dragon ship Pequod . Here shows up the classic personages from the vintage novel : Ishmael (Corey Sevier) , Stubb (Vinnie Jones ) , Flask (Bagby), Queequeg (Kepa Kruse) , Starbuck (David Morgan), Peter Coffin (McKay Daines) . Exception for Rachel (Sofia Pernas), Ahab's adopted daughter, is a fictitious character . As Captain Ahab (Danny Glover) drives the crew deeper into the heart of darkness. He has a self-destructive obsession to hunt the white dragon . Ahab consecrates his life to hunt it full of hating and vengeance . Soon enough , Ahab aware about the great white dragon and claiming vendetta on the beast that scarred him , no matter what the cost to himself , his crew or ship .

Yet another take on of Melville's classic battle of wills story . The picture is a fine adaptation of the famous novel well scripted/adapted and ably realized . This impressive adaptation based on Herman Melville's 1851 classic novel is vividly brought to screen , though it has some flaws , gaps and failures . Dealing with the interactions between captain Ahab and his crew , freely based on the novel Moby-Dick written by prestigious author Herman Melville , that results to be one of the most thrilling and moving see sagas ever written . Here replacing the attractive tale of life on the high seas for snowy and wood landscapes and in particular on board a dragon-hunt ship named 'Pequod' . Danny Glover gives an acceptable acting as Ahab , reflecting his deep determination to seek avenge . Writers McKay Daines , Gil Aglaure, Anne K. Black wrote screenplay and story that was partially faith to the novel by stamping this movie with thought-provoking dialogs and colorful images . Enjoyable recounting , including quite a few moments that click make this especial movie more than watchable . The FX experts created a great dragon made by means of ordinary computer generator. Cameraman/filmaker Ryan Little uses appropriate color cinematography and splendidly conveys the bleaker qualities of the chase . The motion picture was professional but regularly directed by Ryan Little , though with no originality . He's a nice director working usually for television . Ryan was presented with a Student Emmy at the 1999 Academy of Television Arts & Science College Television Awards, for "Best Dramatic Film": The Last Good War . Little has directed a few but decent movies such as ¨Outlaw Trail: The Treasure of Butch Cassidy¨ , ¨House of fears¨ , ¨Forever strong¨, ¨Age of the dragons¨ and ¨"Saints and Soldiers : Airbone creed" that is the sequel to the award-winning ¨Saints and soldiers¨ and the third part titled ¨Saints and soldiers : the void¨ .

Other renditions about this famous novel are the following ones : 1930 rendition by Lloyd Bacon with John Barrymore , this is the first production of "Moby Dick" to have a leading female character , Joan Blondell . ¨Moby Dick (1959)¨ by John Huston , an over-the-top rendition of Herman Melville's high seas saga with a sensational Gregory Peck as unforgettable captain Ahab . It's remade in 1998 TV series by Franc Roddan with Patrick Stewart , Henry Thomas , Bill Hunter and Gregory Peck who takes on the character of Jonah-and-the-whale sermonizing Father Mapple who in classic adaptation was vividly played by Orson Welles . And Miniseries ¨Moby Dick 2011¨ by Mike Binder with William Hurt , Ethan Hawke , Eddie Marsan , Gillian Armstrong . Furthermore , recent lousy rendition full of computer generator FX titled Moby Dick 2010 directed by Trey Stokes starred by Barry Bostwick and Renee O'Connor .

This adaption of Moby Dick was terrible! I love SciFi and watched the whole thing anyway. Basically, it's dragons in stead of whales and a white dragon in stead of a white whale. It features a crazy land-ship that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside; it sleeps eight people in separate quarters, kitchen/dining/storage and office in a vehicle the size of a bus. Propulsion of the ship left me scratching my head too - no sails, no horses pulling it, no steam engine, it just rolls on wooden wheels in an age of harpoons and cross bows - I didn't get it. The effects were reasonably good. I liked most of the actors. But the premise, story line and dialog were so bad that it took down the entire movie to a (1) "awful".

Despite the very low rating this movie had received here on IMDb, I still decided to give it a go. Why? Well because it was a movie with dragons, and I do like fantasy movies and dragons as well, and also because I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons for some odd 25 years or so by now, so anything that just remotely smells like something in that genre does spark an interest in me.

I am puzzled at why the movie have scored such a low rating. I found the movie to be rather good. It had a good story, and yeah, it is basically just a re-make of the "Moby Dick" story. But so what? Hollywood have pumped out re-makes of old movies by the dozens these last couple of years, so why not also another re-make of "Moby Dick"? (One that wasn't as bad as the "2010: Moby Dick" movie!) In "Age of the Dragons" you just change the white whale out with a white dragon, and set the story into a fantasy-medieval setting. I found it interesting enough. And also, there was a very great feeling to the environment, as they had really managed to capture the essence of what I believe a fantasy-medieval setting (with dragons) would actually be like (of course, I am leaning much on my Dungeons & Dragons experience here).

The effects in "Age of the Dragons" were great. The dragons looked real and believable, as did the wyverns. However, one thing did jab a thorn in my side. As an avid role-player of the Dungeons & Dragons game, I am accustomed to white dragons breathing intense cold, not fire. So that was sort of something that didn't sit well with me. But of course, I am familiar with the stereotypical mythological approach that all dragons breathe fire, so it was alright. Just would have been cooler (no pun intended) had it been a breath of deadly cold instead.

As for the acting in "Age of the Dragons", well I though people did good jobs, and they had managed to put together a rather good ensemble of actors and actresses actually. The role of Ahab was played by Danny Glover, and I think he actually pulled this off quite nicely. But also, Vinnie Jones (playing Stubb), Corey Sevier (playing Ishmael), Sofia Pernas (playing Rachel), Larry Bagby (playing Flask) and Kepa Kruse (playing Queequeg) did great jobs. I especially enjoyed Kepa Kruse's performance and his somewhat odd character, that really brought some flavor to the movie.

"Age of the Dragons" was also a movie full of visual treats. The town was nice to look at, and it really had that unique touch to it, making it believable as if you were there in fantasy-medieval times. But the scenery once the group ventured out into the wilderness in search of the great white dragon, that was just breathtakingly beautiful. I do love the scenery of snow and snow-clad majestic mountains.

I was a little bit puzzled by Ahab vessel. A huge metallic boat-like vehicle? Alright, sure, great enough idea. But just how was the vessel propelled? What forced the wheels to go round, there was no sign of any type of engine, mechanical or alchemical of any sorts. And also, the vessel looked rather small when seen outside, but inside it seemed to easily fit the entire crew and then some. So in my opinion there was a matter of questionable reason in the dimensions of this odd vessel.

But aside from that, then I found "Age of the Dragons" to be rather interesting and entertaining. And if you do like fantasy movies, then I definitely would recommend this movie, despite it being a re-make of "Moby Dick".

I thought the basic idea to remake Moby Dick in a slightly steam-punk version with dragons was intriguing enough. Sure, this is probably not gonna be a film for the ages, but it could be entertaining for ninety minutes.

But it's just horrible. Oh so horrible. The acting is some of the worst I have ever seen, if I account for the fact that they did indeed use professional actors. Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones have never been praised for their craft when playing the shallow roles they've played before. Here now, they are cast in character roles and that is a disaster. Jones tries to summon some gravitas by constantly suckling on this wee pipe of his and it looked ridiculous. The other male actors are underwhelming at best. They seem to have been selected because they all resemble other (more talented) actors.

The female lead was clearly cast based on "Who was the hottest chick that showed up?" Her acting is the worst.

The screenplay is just clown shoes. But the real highlight of this thing is the "ship". It looks like a carrack without sails, but wheels instead. It moves forward by means of ... erm, nobody knows. At the very least, they should have lamp-shaded it. But no.

This thing is only a 2/10 because the dragon special effects are somewhat decent. Somewhat. Otherwise it would be a 1/10.