Dragon Hunter

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.

You know when you make it over an hour through a movie and you only have like twenty minutes left, and even though it's awful, you've come this far and just have to finish it? Well, this is not that movie. I was literally five minutes away from the end and couldn't care less.

The acting was downright pitiful with characters lacking any depth to pull any emotion from anyway. Blame the writing, it was some of the worst you'll see.

The plot sounded interesting enough in the ultra-nerdy sort of fashion, but rest assured, it falls short here, too. Awful plot. Awful writing. Pitiful direction.

The continuity was thrown out the window. There are scenes in which a character's beard appears to have gotten a magical trim over the course of a few seconds, until...BAM! It's back!

The effects are just goofy. The dragon, well, I won't give it away, but it's laughable to say the least.

Although I gave this only one star, and would probably consider it one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time, it isn't without it's charms. It's charms being that it is so terrible, you'll find yourself chuckling every few moments. The chuckles eventually wear off and you stop caring, at which point you should just turn the movie off.

All in all, the director/writer/producer in Shimek should be shunned from the fantasy community, hanged for his abomination, and mocked for eternity in his pathetic attempt at a film. This guy is pathetic. Literally something that you would not believe until you see. Yes, it's THAT bad.

See it for a laugh with buddies over some beers, but I'm sure you won't want to watch more than forty five minutes or so.

If you plan on watching it for any other reason than mockery, just don't.

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.

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.

Since this is a story about a man who is a Dragon Hunter in a world of Orcs, Elves, and Dragons you would think this is a Fantasy. However, as a fantasy film, it pretty well sucks. The Dragon is only in the movie for a few minutes and the orcs you see are just a band of five, dispatched in seconds, and the special effects for them are quite weak, they're just men in masks. The Dragon, on the other hand, is a pretty decent CGI for a low budget flick from 2009.

Realising the budget wouldn't be so large the writer and director, Stephen Shimek, decided to make it about the journey of brothers Darius and Kendrick, played strongly by Erik Denton and Maclain Nelson respectively, to get to the Castle Okarda to train the last Dragon Hunter. On the way, they form alliances with a band of soldiers who accompany them on their mission.

As a drama, it's an above-average film with some really nice camera shots. I particularly liked the way Shimek created the love scene between Darius and the Elfin Raya, portrayed elegantly by Kelly Stables. There's a nice chemistry between the pair and as they move in for their first kiss a rain shower starts, and you know what the rain drop hitting the leaf really represents.

The actors have above average acting skills and give the most to their roles.

The only things that irked me were the amount of time the journey took; they walked a lot... and must have passed the same tree at least three times, this slowed the film down quite a bit... not to the point of boredom, but close. Then there was the swordplay when the Hunter was training. It would've been advisable to bring in an expert to show them how to wield a sword correctly.

This is not a fast action-packed movie it's a slow meander through the fantasy realm and therefore not for everyone. I enjoyed it, though I wouldn't rush to watch it again... or ever.

If there's nothing else to watch and you can't get out the house for some reason, then this could pass the time quite well.