My thoughts in a nutshell: while decent, this film, frankly, just wasn't what it could have been. Mediocre production values, manageable continuity, sometimes good sometimes poor pacing, under-developed plot, unexplained plot points, questionable casting, sub-par acting, and sometimes good sometimes horrible characterization.
I have to say that I had no expectations for this film right from the beginning. The director of the picture was inexperienced, the budget was ridiculously low, and a few of the casting choices were baffling. Justin Whalin and Marlon Wayans as a duo of roughneck fantasy fiction thieves? A normally proportioned man named Lee Arenberg as a dwarf, without forced perspective or scale doubles? African-American Kristen Wilson as the film's main elf character (half-elf, actually, but they never tell the audience that in the film, I had to find out through the DVD audio commentary)? On top of that, a few casting choices one would have thought would have saved the film didn't. Jeremy Irons and Bruce Payne as the film's central villains could (should, actually) have been heavenly, but weren't. The cameos by Tom Baker and Richard O'Brien were excellent, though.
When all is said and done, the central problems with this film are very evident. The first being that, Courntey Solomon, the man at the helm just did not have the background as a filmmaker required to bring something of this magnitude to the big screen. While watching the film, it is apparent that he poured his heart and soul into each scene, but lacked the polished skill to truly bring it out effectively, most of the time. If anything, the director can only be blamed for being too enthusiastic and impatient about getting to be a filmmaker of an adaptation of a role-playing game he has much love for. The other problem being the matter of budget. Solomon made the film for $35 million. Now balance that between the actors, the costumes, the props, the sets, the cameras, the film, the shooting locations, the make-up, and the computer generated special effects. Listening to the audio commentaries for the film, and watching the deleted scenes (both with or without Director's Commentary) made it clear that he had much higher ambitions for the project that were just impossible for what he had to work with. Regardless, with his own inexperience and a hideously low budget working against him, he still managed to put together a decent film. I don't think I need to explain the situation again in order to tell readers that shows promise in a filmmaker, but showing promise was not enough to make this a solidly good film.
Rating: 5/10
I have to say that I had no expectations for this film right from the beginning. The director of the picture was inexperienced, the budget was ridiculously low, and a few of the casting choices were baffling. Justin Whalin and Marlon Wayans as a duo of roughneck fantasy fiction thieves? A normally proportioned man named Lee Arenberg as a dwarf, without forced perspective or scale doubles? African-American Kristen Wilson as the film's main elf character (half-elf, actually, but they never tell the audience that in the film, I had to find out through the DVD audio commentary)? On top of that, a few casting choices one would have thought would have saved the film didn't. Jeremy Irons and Bruce Payne as the film's central villains could (should, actually) have been heavenly, but weren't. The cameos by Tom Baker and Richard O'Brien were excellent, though.
When all is said and done, the central problems with this film are very evident. The first being that, Courntey Solomon, the man at the helm just did not have the background as a filmmaker required to bring something of this magnitude to the big screen. While watching the film, it is apparent that he poured his heart and soul into each scene, but lacked the polished skill to truly bring it out effectively, most of the time. If anything, the director can only be blamed for being too enthusiastic and impatient about getting to be a filmmaker of an adaptation of a role-playing game he has much love for. The other problem being the matter of budget. Solomon made the film for $35 million. Now balance that between the actors, the costumes, the props, the sets, the cameras, the film, the shooting locations, the make-up, and the computer generated special effects. Listening to the audio commentaries for the film, and watching the deleted scenes (both with or without Director's Commentary) made it clear that he had much higher ambitions for the project that were just impossible for what he had to work with. Regardless, with his own inexperience and a hideously low budget working against him, he still managed to put together a decent film. I don't think I need to explain the situation again in order to tell readers that shows promise in a filmmaker, but showing promise was not enough to make this a solidly good film.
Rating: 5/10