Dragonfyre

Nit-picking small details is an easy way to write a review. "The special effects were poor, the acting was bad, the plot was stupid, blah blah blah." But every director knows that to make a good film you have to have a great many small and large details come together to do just one thing: entertain. Even several "bad" bits can be used effectively if the movie makers keep the goal in mind. The makers of this movie didn't let their little troubles get in the way, they just used what they had to good effect.

I personally feel that this film delivers in the entertainment category. I really had a good time watching it. While the usual fantasy film clichés abound, it manages to breathe new life into many of them by directly contrasting them to the real world reactions of normal earth folk. The idea is not necessarily original, but it always has potential.

The mix of modern weaponry against fantasy weaponry is really what this film is all about. Seriously now, who HASN'T watched "Lord of the Rings" and thought to themselves at one point or another, "Yeah... airstrike. That's what I'd do." Also, despite the drawbacks of poor animation and somewhat limited plot, the actors involved pull it off with enthusiasm, making themselves not just plausible, but even a little bit likable. The occasional witty comment was fitting, and the interplay between the orcs was reasonably fun to watch.

It exceeded my expectations and I had a good time watching it.

A wizard, nope not really! Other worlds? Maybe, but it all looks like Utah to me. The story is very flat and pretty straightforward. An ex-army guy buys an old farm with all the old secrets and takes over from a previous defender. Then you have a Princess to save.

After all the massive firepower in one arsenal vs an army of orcs, who keep raising from the dead, appearing in other places to die again against some shockingly poor visuals in another place.

I have to mention the makeup here as the orcs looks really good, whoever was behind that did a really good job and we must give the film credit here for that, as this was one of the few things that showed production value. The costume design was also fairly good.

The acting, so so. And there we go, not a bad watch, not a long film and I am sure a lot of people will be satisfied and enjoy the movie.

Oh my, the hate against this film... yes, the low budget DID reuse props from other films (especially LotR) so does every film company, big or small. You'd be amazed just how many films and TV shows ended up using that "cheezey" armor from the first Starship Troopers. Granted, the heroine using a "sting" replica was a little too obvious, but ya use what ya can get.

As for the people complaining of "never missing", either they're blind, or we watched different movies. I was laughing my backside off at how much dirt was flying. Apparently "Special Forces" training has magically gotten a whole lot worse lately, as the guy could only land about 1 in 10, and Scooter couldn't figure out how to walk a machine gun into a target at all; something anyone who's played video games in the last 3 decades knows how to do.

The actual tactics were surprisingly accurate. Don't know if that was accidental or intentional, but the orcs used actual movements, tactics, and formations that were used historically when we had that equipment. The soldier used fairly realistic military strategy. The redneck acted like a redneck. I gave points for that, even though Im not sure it was deliberate. Its so incredibly rare to see people in films that have even the least clue of what they're supposed to be doing.

Overall, yes, it was low budget. Yes, the story was rather predictable. Guess what, that plot is rather standard fare for a good quarter of the fantasy/SF genre anyway. Your not gonna find a new angle after 7 decades of works. It burnt up a few hours, wasn't as bad as Sci-fi or BBC effects, wasn't as insultingly stupid as most USA and TBS TV movie plots, had a few cute faces, some chuckles, and one or two moments of decent bad-assery, if you actually knew what you were seeing.

I've seen a hella lot worse here with better ratings.

Yeah, ORC WARS isn't too bad for what it is: a really cheesy and unbelievable action-packed B-movie that happily rips off the look of the orcs from THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. I mean, the orcs in this film are EXACTLY the same as in those Peter Jackson movies: so much so that if I worked for Weta Workshop I'd be tempted to sue. The orcs are the most entertaining part of this movie, but I'm not too sure about their presence in the real, contemporary world.

I mean, seeing orcs interacting with modern-day human characters, farmhouses, and vehicles is just plain odd and realism is never going to be a priority in that situation. Still, given that this is a B-movie with the usual problems (absolutely fake looking CGI fire, fake looking black blood clouds for the orcs, rubbish acting and a non-existent script) it's actually quite entertaining by the standards of the sub-genre.

ORC WARS incorporates an absolute ton of action into its running time, particularly in the second half which involves a running battle between humans and orcs. Sure, a lot of it is repetitive, but they even manage a dragon in the budget, which is quite impressive. By the standards of normal film this is a complete waste of time, but as a B-movie you can do much, much worse.

Former soldier John Norton buys a ranch in the middle of nowhere (shot in Utah) and is surprised to find that his new neighbors are an elf princess and an army of Orcs chasing her. He happens to live next to a gate to another world and is destined to become guardian of the gate. Not an easy task, as evil creatures are coming through every day. Since the Orcs do not know guns, though, they think Norton is a sorcerer with magic weapons, but when he defends the princess, the Orcs summon a powerful ally to strike back: a fire-breathing dragon...

Despite the low budget, simple countryside setting and unknown actors, this was surprisingly good fun. The script has a great sense of humor (for example when Katie gets a gun to fight the Orcs because they wrecked her car), nobody takes it too seriously, and the overall feeling is like watching an 1980s trash classic rather than a new digital production. Nothing wrong with that!