Hey, you got your SEAL PATROL in my IN THE NAME OF THE KING 3! Hey, you got IN THE NAME OF THE KING 3 in my SEAL PATROL! Can two flavors of crappy films generate one film that isn’t? Well, it’s time for the Direct to DVD Dissection to decide that, isn’t it?
The Story
Looking to leave the world behind, an ex-Special Forces buys a ranch in the remote American West, where he encounters a strange series of trespassers, including a beautiful elf princess and a Native American mystic. But when orcs invade his property, John must give up his isolation to become a hero, before the orcs sacrifice his new charges and unleash a dark magic on our world.
The Bullet Points
-Directed by KOHL GLASS
-Runtime: 93 minutes
-Released by Peace Arch Trinity
-Language: English
The Dissection
It seems like, if there’s a place on earth with long enough grass and a sizable cave, someone’s going to shoot a medieval film in there. The year’s worth of reviews are proof enough of this at times, and this time we got a new one with DRAGONFYRE.
John Norton (Joiner), back with his unit, where nothing could possibly go wrong….
It does bring to mind the two films mentioned earlier, namely SEAL PATROL and IN THE NAME OF THE KING 3. It has the first film’s issue with the main character and his troubled past with a squad and a mission gone wrong. It also takes over KING’S juxtaposition of a modern fighter, in this case a soldier, and sets him in this fantasy world.
One thing this movie does better than KING is that it at least sets the tone of the film before the 5 minute mark, which culminates in a old guy with a long cot and machine guns proceeding to destroy an army of orcs who were chasing an Elvin princess (named Aleya, played by Masiela Lusha) through a cave. Deeper in the film reveals a blind Indian warrior (Whitefeather, played by Wesley John) who leads the hero into his destiny of rescuing this land. It has bits of trying to make the hero, John Norton(played by Rusty Joiner) as this deep and trouble protagonist, the film is pretty much goofy and running with it. The film builds up a fight, and to its credit, delivers it well enough.
There are a good number of issues. The budgets were pretty much on the low end, especially for a film that has a supposed budget of over 3 million dollars. It’s not just in the look or on the quality of the effects, but there’s a lot of errors and effects failures that should have been caught beforehand, but weren’t. Also, the main character is pretty much generic and following the typical arc for a character like him, and really has a dull background.
Man, the next Tex Murphy game is more action oriented than normal….
Still, there is a few interesting qualities in the movie, namely around the third act. Plus, other than Norton, the other characters and their performances are appropriate for the film and the action delivers a pay off to those who are able to get to the end.
The Verdict
There is some bits of enjoyment to be taken from this film, beyond a flawed execution and some occasional drags in the story. t would be a recommendation if you felt other films of this ilk left you a bit cold. Otherwise, it’s nothing that you can’t wait for another attempt.