Dungeons and Dragons 3 Book of Vile Darkness
Stargazer5781
Member Posts: 183
in Off-Topic
Just watched this movie and I want to recommend it to this forum. It's undoubtedly the best of the Dungeons and Dragons films made. That's certainly not saying much, but I actually enjoyed this one. I went in with very low expectations. I expected cheese, bad acting, awful script, and occasional dumb appeals to the franchise. It delivered on some of that.
The acting is surprisingly solid and the dialog is well-written. Actually I like it better than a lot of dialog I hear in Hollywood blockbusters. The most wonderful thing about this film, though, is the risks it takes. The protagonist is a paladin who's been rejected by his god Pelor. His order is attacked and slaughtered by barbarians and his father is kidnapped. He drags himself to a nearby town, buys new equipment with money collected from his deceased friends and tries to find something to do with his life. He winds up joining a party of very evil adventurers with uncertain motives.
The character dynamics are beautiful. The good characters have complex flaws and you're never sure if they're going to turn evil or stay on a good path. The evil characters have redeeming qualities, or at least likeable qualities. You're never sure where anyone stands and they surprise you throughout the film. In fact the best thing about the movie is how frequently it goes in directions I didn't expect. It doesn't assume the audience is a bunch of morons who need a clear good guy and a clear bad guy to not be confused. The battle scenes are tastefully done. There's tension to them, they're not dragged out, and there are real consequences to them. It's not action for action's sake - it's action to advance the plot. Characters get injured and die, materials get destroyed, things go wrong, characters have to improvise. And there are quite a few battles too.
The special effects are sub-par but that's easily forgiveable. There is some cheese and a fair amount of the movie will undoubtedly be lost on anyone unfamiliar with Dungeons and Dragons, but I imagine that doesn't include anyone on this forum. You will occasionally have to suspend disbelief - the town just happened to have the equipment shop with everything he needed ON SALE! He stumbles upon the most knowledgeable and well-connected prostitute in human history who just happens to have a motive to help him for free, and a few other things that are kind of silly. Overall highly recommend watching it if you can.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1733125/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVwPgrQ_R_s
The acting is surprisingly solid and the dialog is well-written. Actually I like it better than a lot of dialog I hear in Hollywood blockbusters. The most wonderful thing about this film, though, is the risks it takes. The protagonist is a paladin who's been rejected by his god Pelor. His order is attacked and slaughtered by barbarians and his father is kidnapped. He drags himself to a nearby town, buys new equipment with money collected from his deceased friends and tries to find something to do with his life. He winds up joining a party of very evil adventurers with uncertain motives.
The character dynamics are beautiful. The good characters have complex flaws and you're never sure if they're going to turn evil or stay on a good path. The evil characters have redeeming qualities, or at least likeable qualities. You're never sure where anyone stands and they surprise you throughout the film. In fact the best thing about the movie is how frequently it goes in directions I didn't expect. It doesn't assume the audience is a bunch of morons who need a clear good guy and a clear bad guy to not be confused. The battle scenes are tastefully done. There's tension to them, they're not dragged out, and there are real consequences to them. It's not action for action's sake - it's action to advance the plot. Characters get injured and die, materials get destroyed, things go wrong, characters have to improvise. And there are quite a few battles too.
The special effects are sub-par but that's easily forgiveable. There is some cheese and a fair amount of the movie will undoubtedly be lost on anyone unfamiliar with Dungeons and Dragons, but I imagine that doesn't include anyone on this forum. You will occasionally have to suspend disbelief - the town just happened to have the equipment shop with everything he needed ON SALE! He stumbles upon the most knowledgeable and well-connected prostitute in human history who just happens to have a motive to help him for free, and a few other things that are kind of silly. Overall highly recommend watching it if you can.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1733125/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVwPgrQ_R_s 1
Comments
Though i did admire the "evil" whatever class they decided she was woman.
Ii would like to know why the male lead was played by the worst actor in the entire film though....
This movie was pretty good. The second one was very good as well.
http://community.wizards.com/sarialmorphopracktix/blog/2012/11/29/book_of_vile_darkness__dd_3_film_review At the beginning I thought he did not have his powers yet and was disappointed by that (not thinking he was ever going too), but was trying to receive them. At the end when he does the selfless deed while saving his father he receives them.
Otherwise, there's always torrents.....
I know I posted the link on the threads somewhere...