Title: Dragon Storm
Stars: John Rhys-Davies,
Maxwell Caulfield, and Angel Boris
Director: Stephen
Furst
Running Time: 91
minutes without commercials
Media: Sci-Fi Channel
Original Movie (NTSC VHS Screener)
Premiere Saturday,
January 24, 2004, at 9pm (ET/PT)
Network: Sci-Fi
Channel (Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV Rating: Not
Available At Time Of Review
Reviewer: Mark A.
Rivera
In the 11th Century, dueling Carpathian Kings are forced to work together after meteors from deep space crash upon the Earth and unleash flying fire breathing dragons. When a corrupt King (John Rhys-Davies) seeks the help of his neighboring, but just competitor, no one believes that these fire-breathing beasts even exist. However a team of dragon hunters is soon formed after the castle and the surrounding forest is attacked. The team is made up of a reclusive hunter (Maxwell Caulfield), a crossbow-wielding princess, an honorable Asian mercenary, an alchemist, and a surviving daughter whose family were killed by the creatures. With stealth, cunning, and secret weapons, they take on the beasts on their own territory, but could wiping the dragons out be enough to save a kingdom now under siege from within as well?
Stephen Furst (Babylon 5) directed this Sci-Fi Channel original movie, which features some interesting locations and very good CGI effects for the dragons. There is a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, but much of the action can be quite compelling for a TV movie. While some sets can be easily seen as redresses of other ones, the effects for the creatures are rarely recycled so viewers will be pleasantly surprised. Like many feature films that have more than one dragon, they all look the same, which is a shame since I think it would be more interesting to see variations on the creatures to represent different nations, like the Chinese dragon, which is culturally serves a completely different role then the European dragon. Even different colors would make them more visually alluring. Having them look different and resemble descriptions believed to be the myths of various countries would have suggested that this is not the first time a dragon has appeared on the Earth and added a quick, but intriguing back story to these amazing beasts. There are cool scenes of dragon carnage too as hapless victims are burned, decapitated, and otherwise eaten.
The budget for this film appears to have required a lot of invention to bring the story to life, but sometimes it is just not enough. There are too few extras to make or even distinguish one kingdom from the other, which is important since one is supposed to be in a state of famine and decline while the other is supposed to be prosperous. There is a scene where Davies’ character grabs the crown of the opposing king for himself and the crown looks like something out of a fast food restaurant.
However
it looks as though the filmmakers tried their best to deliver a popcorn
television fantasy film that is both original and entertaining and for the most
part I think they succeeded. “Dragon Storm” will debut on the Sci-Fi Channel
on Saturday, January 24, 2004, at 9pm (ET/PT). Check it out.
©
Copyright 2004 By Mark A. Rivera
All
Rights Reserved.