Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God (2005)

.... however, from a D&D point of view this only display how a bunch of noobs would handle a stereotypical quest. As an experienced Dungeon Master I couldn't stop laughing for most of the movie and when I did, it was only to underline moments when a competent DM would cut it to "the party dies". The group is so terribly incompetent and all the D&D plot devices so ineptly used that all in all there's no redeeming quality to it at all.Its only viable tagline would be "an incompetent player's understanding of the D&D manuals" but that still doesn't excuse the lack of any acting talent whatsoever and the 80's flavor of special effects.I give it a 2 only to point out it's better than the first movie.

The first film was based on the popular role-playing game, as is this sequel, the original was a huge box office flop, and I only found out about this follow up being shown on television, it was straight to DVD. Basically evil sorcerer Damodar (Bruce Payne) has returned, one years since the previous events, and he seeks revenge on the kingdom of Izmir and the descendants of those who defeated him. He finds what restores his curse, the ancient artifact, an Orb, linked to the power of Faluzure, and with this he also plans to awaken the dragon to destroy the kingdom. Fighter and former captain of the king's guard Lord Berek (Mark Dymond) and his gifted wife Melora (Clemency Burton-Hill) are investigating toxic gases in caves, where they find the slumbering dragon, and they also find out about the missing Orb. Melora is cursed by Damador in an encounter, and she hides this from Berek, while they gather together a group of warriors, female barbarian Lux (Ellie Chidzey), male Cleric Dorian (Steven Elder) of Obad-Hai, female elven wizard Ormaline (Lucy Gaskell) and master thief Nim (Tim Stern). They set out to find the enemy's lair, while Oberon (Roy Marsden) head of the Mages' Council and his colleagues try to decipher the tomes of Turanian magic, a way to defeat the dragon. The heroes travel through haunted forest, get the attention of Klaxx the Maligned (Aurimas Meliesius), solve some riddle and get through some obstacles, and Dorian is killed. Berek manages to take the Orb while injured Ormaline and Nim are teleported to the clerics, while a transformed Klaxx kills the Oberon and takes his shape, and when Melora returns his true identity is unmasked, before he steals the Orb and kills the King. The dragon has been awakened and destroying the Orb regains all its power, and while Berek rides to save the day, near death Melora deciphers the magic needed to attack the creature and restore her own health. Berek and Lux are ready to face Damador, who no longer has Klaxx at his side, and the heroes manage to defeat and imprison him in the dark dungeon beneath Izmir, all the courageous good guys get their rewards, while the villain smiles that he may be able to return again. I will be honest and say, I don't care about any story at all, as you can tell this is straight to DVD by the terrible quality of acting, the useless attempts of action sequences, and the most often times stupid special effects, it is definitely worse than the original, a rubbish fantasy adventure sequel. Poor!

Of course, by "first Dungeons & Dragons film" I mean that horrible piece of drek released in 2000. This made for television movie manages to trump its immediate predecessor in almost every regard, though Bruce Payne is *still* horrible as Damodar.Indeed, the largest failing of the film is reintroducing Bruce Payne (whose acting was horrible) as Damodar. I can't help but think how much better the film could have been had they ditched the high-priced Payne, replaced him with a better (albeit lesser known) actor, and used the money saved to foot the bill for better CGI.Where Wrath of the Dragon God succeeds is in its faithful portrayal of many common D&D tropes, from actual dungeons and dragons to common monsters (e.g., Lich) and the stereotypical D&D adventuring party. If you listen carefully, you'll even find some nice (and appropriate) references to classic AD&D adventure locations.Likewise, the quality of acting in Wrath of the Dragon God is markedly better than than displayed in the first D&D move, despite this film's cast being composed primarily of unknown actors. Indeed, Tim Stern, Mark Dymond, and Ellie Chidzey are actually quite *good* in their respective roles as the stereotypical Fighter, Thief, and Barbarian.Finally, while the plot here is nothing to write home about in terms of originality (which itself may be a clever homage to D&D adventure modules), it is at least comprehensible — further, it manages to rise to the level of "entertaining" at times (usually when focused on the exploits of the adventuring party).If Gerry Lively had canned Bruce Payne and been given the same budget that Courtney Solomon frittered away on the first film, I can only assume that Wrath of the Dragon God would have been *great* rather than merely adequate (a measure of quality that the first film never came close to achieving).Seeing Wrath of the Dragon God outperform its big screen counterpart in almost every possible manner reminds me that, sometimes, the television screen is better than the silver screen for fantasy.

After being disgusted by the first D&D movie, I went into the Wrath of the Dragon God with trepidation. Even so, I tried to keep hope that the producers would make amends for their previous failure. Well, they honestly tried.... The action and CGI was much better, however there were many points where it was unbelievable. The ACTING was greatly improved. The story fit the D&D feel a little more. Being an AD&D player for many years now, I was still let down by the rudimentary knowledge the producers seem to have about D&D. I wish they would find some REAL actors, have a REAL adult story, and REALLY know their stuff when it comes to the D&D GAME ASPECTS. There are so many great things that D&D has as a game that could be put into a great movie... too bad no one can get their stuff together enough to do it.