This is what happens when you have a nerd with a bright idea of bringing a digital videocamera with him to their weekly LARP (live action role-playing) game sessions in the forest.
While this project definitely had the heart in the right place, and was made by geeks with a passion for LARP, then it hardly constitutes being a properly entertaining movie. It was weighed down by a very low budget feel and atmosphere to it, and it really felt like it was just a videotaped LARP session by adult geeks running around in costumes.
Even the costumes felt low budget and were clearly something that you can buy in any gaming store that sell LARP items. And for a movie that was supposed to be set in a fantasy setting in a medieval fantasy realm, then people were surprisingly well-groomed, and the clothing was freshly washed and spotless. It just reeked to high heaven of being a LARP project and people not wanting to damage and weather their LARP equipment bought with hard-earned money. It just didn't pass as being believable. And some of the orc masks were so fake that you could see it was latex masks being worn. And I loved the scene with Kulta, where you could see that they hadn't even bothered with covering his shoulders with that dark make-up, so you could see his regular Caucasian skin so clearly. It was just idiotic. And also some of the wigs that the shadow elves were wearing were so fake that even a blind man would point them out as being wigs.
As for the storyline, well that part, at least, they got working for them, because it definitely felt like something taken out of a fantasy role-playing game session. But again, something that translated well to the screen? No, not so much. Especially because it was weighed down by an overwhelming sense of it all being fake props and less than mediocre acting performances.
The acting performances weren't something you'd write back home to your friends and brag about. Some were fair, albeit not memorable, while some were just downright painful to witness.
I am sure that the LARPers whom participated in acting out the story and the characters in this movie had fun. And I, as a role-player (but not LARP) myself, really wanted to enjoy this movie. But I just couldn't. It was slow paced, it had pointless and shallow characters often portrayed by inadequate actors and actresses, and the whole movie was just lacking the grit and grime that you'd see on people, clothing and the environment of a medieval fantasy world.
Clearly an amateurish project with the heart and spirit in the right place. But perhaps next time don't bring a camera to your LARP sessions.
