Dark Kingdom...

[fajrdrako]

This evening I watched the first half of Dark Kingdom. I'd been intrigued by this when I saw an ad for the DVD in recent comic books.

Intrigued for two reasons: the main one being that (thanks to Tolkien and Thor comic books), I have a passionate fascination with the history of the dark ages, including the legendary history like Beowulf), and the secondary one being that I thought the two leads, Benno Furmann and Kristanna Loken, looked gorgeous.

Now, in the past, whenever I have pursued the Volsung Saga, or Wagner's Ring Cycle, or the Niebelungenlied, I have ended up confused and bored. So it was with this movie. Pity. It was fun to see Samuel West as King Gunther - but it's fun to see him in anything, and he makes a beautiful king. The costumes could have been from anywhere between 400 A.D. and 1400 - I couldn't figure out when they were intending us to think this was, but didn't really expect consistency. I did expect a better script.

All in all, it reminded me of the TV series Hercules, which I couldn't be bothered to watch.

I hope someday they'll do a really good movie based on the Siegfried story.

Comments

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Omfg, the Hercules tv series was such fun in high school.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

What, you were a fan? I never watched more than a few seconds of the show at a time. But then, I wasn't in high school...

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Not a fan, but my friends and I always found it hilariously ridiculous. We were teenagers and it was silly, and I had friends who knew Raimi since he was from the area *shrug*.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I will agree that the show was silly - and ridiculous! Who is Raimi, one of the actors?

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Sam Raimi, the director (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Raimi). Also did Spiderman and the Evil Deads). He grew up in the Royal Oak / Bloomfield area and went to MSU (all local to me).

I never expected to take Hercules seriously. It spawned Xena, after all.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I din't know Sam Raimi did Hercules. Now I know. I'm not sure if I like his work or not. I incline slightly to the 'not', but there were things about Spider-Man that were terrific.

I wasn't much of a Xena fan either, but I liked it better than Hercules because it was more satirical in its cheesiness. I only watched the episodes with Julius Caesar. I have my priorities.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I certainly remember Julius Caesar.

I didn't watch either series for a long time, but I found them both silly in a popcorn movie kind of way. And I liked seeing how many times Bruce Campbell would pop up in an episode.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I remember Julius Caesar very well indeed. I don't remember Bruce Campbell.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Bruce Campbell isn't memorable. He tends to pop up as various characters and does so in the Spidermans as well. As does Raimi's brother.

[brashley46.livejournal.com]

Now, if and only if they based it faithfully on Diana L. Paxson's trilogy, I'd risk watching it. (I mean, of course, The Wolf and the Raven, The Dragons of the Rhine, and The Lord of Horses. Best stuff she's ever written, for all of me.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Really? I haven't read Paxson. Thanks for the recommendation?

You raise a good point - why don't they base the movies on a good book, rather than a half-baked version of the story? The script was by Diane Duane and Peter Norwood - in collaboration with the director, Uli Edel. I was not int eh least impressed.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

we watched it last month... (http://angevin2.livejournal.com/309862.html)

*g*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, I confess, the bits with Sam West were the best bits and I squeed. Too bad the whole movie wasn't about King Gunther! As it turned out, he and Queen Brunhild were the eye candy of the piece, and I wish they'd had scenes together. The dragon was fun, but I prefer tall dragons with long necks, who fly, rather than squat dragons who huffle.