February 1, 2008

Movie Review 2008 #11: Dungeons and Dragons

Based on the roleplaying game, and featuring Thora Birch, Marlon Wayans and Jeremy Irons.

Okay, with this on top of Batman the Movie I was in a mood for average fare. The D&D movie is not set in any of the standard D&D universes, and instead creates one sui generis, a Mageocracy where dragons are the arm of the most powerful sorcerers, where a pair of thieves (Justin Whelan and Marlon Wayans) get caught up in a plot by a mage, Profion (Jeremy Irons) to wrest control of the realm from a progressive Queen (Thora Birch).

The acting is pretty bad, the special effects nothing special, the story relatively forgettable. Whereas Jeremy Irons in Eragon is the only one who acts decently, here, his performance is over-the-top. Still, its better than most of the other performances in the movie. And poor Marlon Wayans proves that even in a fantasy universe, black protagonists can have a short life expectancy.

It's been pointed out to me, and I checked the movie just to make sure. Richard (Rocky Horror) O'Brien from and Tom (Doctor Who) Baker both make cameos in the movie.

The movie is bad enough that you might want to watch to see it on that basis alone. Otherwise, its pretty forgettable and you can live your entire life happily never touching the DVD.

Posted by Jvstin at February 1, 2008 9:49 PM
Comments

You Forgot the wonderful cameo of Tom Baker as the Elvin King (Take that Hugo Weaving!) and the second cameo of Richard (Riff Raff) O'Brien. His part/cameo and the whole Thieve's maze is aparently a parody of a British game show he once hosted.

Posted by: Greg"Cameo"Weimer at February 2, 2008 2:01 AM

I didn't recognize Baker! (I didn't return the disc yet...and now I see what you mean).

Had no idea about the game show bit though

Posted by: Paul at February 2, 2008 8:06 AM

Richard (Riff Raff) O'Brien apparently (spelled correctly this time) was the host of a British Game Show called The Crystal Maze. I have never seen it myself but have seen/heard several reverences to it, inculding the movie now. YouTube has several clips from it.

Posted by: Greg"Apparently"Weimer at February 2, 2008 4:06 PM