Dungeons & Dragons (movie)
|
|
Dungeons_&_Dragons_poster.JPG
Dungeons & Dragons is a 2000 live-action movie based on the role-playing game (RPG) Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).
| Contents |
Plot
The story concerns the evil wizard Profion (played by noted character actor Jeremy Irons) who attempts to control red dragons with a powerful artifact. As heroes destined to stop this cataclysmic event are Ridley and Snails (Justin Whalin and Marlon Wayans), two thieves who quite simply happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Other characters (a drunken dwarf and an elven ranger) tag along the "heroes" on their "quest"
Reactions
The movie is generally considered a very poor work by fans of both the original RPG and of fantasy movies in general. Reasons for this include the often-amateurish writing, direction and camerawork of its producer/director, Courtney Solomon. A rumor circulated among fans claims that the film's cast members swore a mutual oath that they would never again work for the director. Perhaps the most crippling flaw of the film is its over-reliance on computer-generated imagery (such as the ending battle) to such an extent that one begins to speculate that an appreciable fraction of the budget was spent on special effects and there was thus not enough resources left for other areas desperately begging for attention (such as Irons' more poignant Profion scenes). In this respect, the film might thus serve as a cautionary tale for movie makers to come about the proper priorization of expenditures.
Some speculated that the movie might have done better had it been released during the height of D&D's popularity in the mid-1980s. By the time this movie came out, the largest potential fan-base had lost interest in the game. The film suffers an abysmal 10% on Rottentomatoes.com, is brutalized on the Internet Movie Database, and is found on the List of movies that have been considered the worst ever
Trivia
The movie featured a cameo appearance of British actor Richard O'Brien in a parody of his game show The Crystal Maze.
Despite the poor box-office showing of the first film, a sequel, Dungeons & Dragons 2: The Elemental Might, is now in post-production. Apparently it has no intention of continuing the story of the original which might be enough to stop it from losing out at the box office like the original.
See also
External links
- Official Dungeons & Dragons website (http://www.newline.com/sites/dnd/)
- Template:Imdb titlede:Dungeons & Dragons (Film)