Dragon Storm (2004) Online

I honestly don't think this movie was meant to be taken very seriously; if you can watch it with a sense of humor, it's actually pretty fun. We've got John Rhys Davies, the evil king of some downtrodden acreage, wearing a crown that looks like it came with a kid's meal at Burger King. He hams up his performance throughout. His "castle" (which looks like an abandoned church that the roof rotted off of decades ago) gets destroyed by dragons, and he and his remaining men set off to the neighboring kingdom for shelter. Along the way they get lost, and meet a huntsman who helps them find their way. It's rather humorous because they show a map of the kingdoms and pan the camera across it to show the journey, but according to the map there's a road they could have followed. I guess if they're too stupid to even know which direction the neighboring kingdom is in, they're too stupid to take the road.

So they take refuge with the neighboring king, while all the time plotting to overthrow him. However, the main story is with the huntsman, who teams up with the king's daughter (played by Angel Boris), and some other folks to go hunt the dragons. By far the best part of this movie is the main battle with the dragons, which takes place at night. This is simply beautiful - a large bright moon, marvelous looking dragons skimming above the tree tops, one getting hit with an exploding spear and falling, trailing fire to the ground. The special effects in this sequence simply do not belong in a low budget movie like this, they're WAY too good. How in the world were they able to pull this off with the money they had? I've seen movies with similar budgets where the CGI was absolutely laughable, yet this stuff is not only completely believable, but moody and atmospheric as well.

Of course, there's some comedic dialog going on during this wonderful battle, provided by the woman with the large crossbow who keeps yelling "Fire!" when she wants it fired, even though she's the one firing it.

Overall, if you can take a large dose of cheese with your really cool dragon battles, you'll probably get a good bit of entertainment out of this. If you're looking for a serious movie, you'll be terribly disappointed. I enjoyed it immensely.

This silly but entertaining B-grade movie tells about some fire-breathing , meteoric dragons emerge from the space and hurtling toward earth begin setting fire to everything , establishing dominance over world and land in Carpathia ,1410 . After destruction his castle , the king Fastrad ( a tyrannical villain well played by John Rhys Davies ), along with his underling (Tony Amendola) are going to shelter at castle of Wenesbury ruled by a good king ( Hansson ) . They meet a hunter archer named Silas ( Maxwell Caufield ) lead them to the castle . There , the hunter is taken prisoner . One time is freed , Silas team up and band together with the king's daughter ( Angela Boris , a Playboy girl), an Asian fighter named Ling ( W.Park ), a woman warrior ,among others and helped by a large crossbow , confronting the weird dragons monsters . They suddenly find themselves the only people can save the kingdom battling the giant dragons .

This is an amazing story that attempts at creating a glimmer fantasy but is compromised by borrowing elements from ¨ Dragonheart , Dragon slayer and Reign of fire ¨, and other latter day movies and belonging to Dragons sub-genre. Film blends adventures, intrigue , battles , exciting action with convincingly computer generator FX , bringing the dragons to the life and is quite entertaining . Work on dragons made by CG sometimes seem authentic, but is also noted its computer realization . The only thing that let it down from this perspective , was that some of the parts in between the dragons fighting were a little dull . It's a moderate success accounting for seeing a direct for video. The picture is produced by Philiph J. Roth, he usually manages his films to write , produce , music and direct and still make them funny , thoughtful and most all highly amusing ,he currently resides in Sofia, Bulgaria and owns a film studio where has been filmed this one . The motion picture is professionally directed by Stephen Furst , he maximize efficiency of movements and shot , he's a habitual secondary actor ( Babylone 5 ) and newcomer as director . It's a bemusing film but is specifically appointed to young people, in spite of a brief nudism scenes. Rating : Passable and entertaining.

For SciFi pictures this movies is surprisingly not bad. Not to say it's good at all, but it was much better than some of their cheese.

I was pleasantly surprised with the Dragon CGI. The characters were pretty hilarious (though not intentionally) in their appearance and actions. The huntsman's hair was probably the best part of the movie. For a man that spent his life outdoors, his hair was nicely cut and styled and he had some very feminine bangs (though he did need a bit of conditioner). The acting was pretty bad and the subplots got in the way of good old Dragon Slaying. It's quite obvious who's going to die once all the character's are introduced as well. Who cares, though? This movie is fun and cheesy. Watch it one Friday night while drinking a couple beers and eating pizza.

Go check out Chupacabra Terror if you enjoyed Dragon Storm. Chupa is another cheesy Sci-fi pictures original that's even more hilarious than Dragon Storm. It's about the South American goat-sucker on a cruise ship captained by none other than John Rhys-Davies.

We're talking low budget here. You know that when you see the same people getting killed, burnt and eaten over and over. The actors are so bad it is funny but, as the facing review declares, you can't quit watching it. There's no point in dissing it because it's too damned delightful to dis. Why bother? The plot(?) involves a bunch of meteoric dragons who are somehow buried in space nuggets hurtling toward Earth and land in 1410 in Carpathia. [Why not?] There, they burn up a rather modern-looking plank house, a peasant and eat his cow. After hatching, they go on to burn up a fort, while a messenger tell the king, [John Rhys-Davies, in full size this time] the news and is, of course, not believed... it goes on. King Fastrod [John Rhys-Davies] turns out is the bad guy and meets up with a mysterious huntsman who leads him to his rival's castle where the local Princess is a tom-boy hunter with a crossbow...and so forth. The dragons are a delight to watch, although you get tired of seeing stunt actors doing the fire gag. The most romantic part is where the huntsman walks in on the princess when she's nudie-patootie getting ready for a bath and gives her a slug of wine.

Hey, it's out on DVD and I liked it. No academy award nominees likely here but, it's good grade B entertainment and John Rhys-Davies's hamming it up is always amusing.

Hi, I was watching "The Day After Tomorrow" in a video room, and I hated it so much that I demanded a new movie. I picked this one. It was fine. An enjoyable little romp through eastern Europe (Russia? Where was this filmed?) with Angel Boris getting almost naked. Who knew they had such sexy lingerie in 1190 AD? If you come across this film in a video store it's worth a look. Some of the performances are quite good, like John Rhys-Davies as one of the kings, and the aforementioned Angel Boris as a tomboy Princess. "Better to have a daughter who acts like a son than a son who acts like a daughter." Congratulations to the film makers for making an enjoyable film on a clearly limited budget. And while the budget was, as I said, clearly small, the special effects were good.

And Angel was hot.

I watched this on television this morning. I hadn't really intended to, but when I saw that John Rhys-Davies was in it, I decided to give it a chance. I, too, at first wondered what he was doing in this movie. The dragons were immediately impressive, but the stunts during their first rampage in the opening scenes looked like they could have been pulled off by average high-school drama students. Guys getting their backs lit on fire, screaming, flapping their arms, and falling down. (This, by the way pretty much sums up the stunts in the rest of the movie, as well, and none of the people seem to have the sense to even roll in the snow once aflame.)

To anyone with at least a little of a discerning eye, these opening scenes are a bit of a red flag. Bad stunts usually make for bad movies. But, as I hadn't yet seen John Rhys-Davies, I kept watching. And I'm glad I did. All-in-all, it was an enjoyable film.

I think budget must have had a lot to do with the way this movie turned out. The dragons must have been expensive, and unless John Rhys-Davies was doing it as a favor to someone, I'm sure he wasn't cheap either. So, it seems, they had to skimp somewhere, and they apparently chose to do so with the stunts.

Yes, the acting is cheesy at times, but appropriately so, for such a tale. And, regarding John Rhys-Davies, he certainly brings a certain presence and dignity to all of his parts, but if you really take a look at his body of work, he hasn't exactly done Shakespeare all his life, either. I think, just as with Sean Connery, he improves any movie he graces with his presence, even the stinkers.

Ultimately, I think they did quite well with the resources available. And when you think about it, would the movie have been better with great stunts, but with lousy dragons?

So, if you like this sort of thing, it is well worth a watch. Just keep your sense of humor about you, and don't allow yourself to be put off by the opening scenes.

My first complaint... Why does a fairly competent actor like John Rhyes Davies (think Indiana Jones, Sliders and Lord of the Rings) need to be in a movie like 'Dragon Storm'? Does he really need the money that bad?

This is another movie where the adverts look deceptively mediocre, as I saw it on Sci-Fi. Unfortunately, I also saw that it was released on video as the box art makes it look 110% better than it actually is.

Another problem... Two kingdoms at war? It didn't seem like there was enough people (cast) to work at a sunglass kiosk at a discount mall. They obviously blew the 35 cent budget on the CGI, because they're decent enough.

The acting (what little there was) wasn't believable, nor where most of the forced accents, which seem to change periodically. All in all, another cow chip to toss on the pile of the Sci-Fi channels long list of B (really D) grade fodder.

This movie was very odd for me, as I want to both hate it and love it at the same time. The idea that the dragons are aliens makes me want to cry, then think that the idea is, in a way, almost cool, then it makes me want to cry again. However, base concept aside, there are some other things worth mentioning.

1. The acting was, in a word, okay. Sci Fi hyped this that this was starring a fellow from "Lord of the Rings", but LotR this was not. It wasn't so horrible that I'll compare it with an English dub of a Godzilla movie, but there are certainly better examples of fine acting in the fantasy genre.

2. The producer should have spent some more time in post-production. Special effects with the dragons were every bit as good as I could have hoped, given this was a Sci Fi Original Picture. Other things, such as when the Huntsman gets the barb stuck in the back of his neck, were really poorly done. Another month or two in post-prod and it would have looked a lot more, well, professional.

3. Everyone that got set on fire was coincidentally wearing the same cloak that covered them completely except for a little part of the face. It was a dragon movie, a *lot* of people were set ablaze, so this little cost-saver was very noticeable. Forgivable, but noticeable.

All-in-all, I had to give this movie a 6. Certainly not the worst I've seen, but it will hardly down in the annals of history as a classic, and it's definitely better than being at home, bored on a Saturday night.

It seems as though we're all pretty well agreed that this film was a real dud.Listless,a poor script,and boring.

Someone asked as to how a fine actor like John Rhys--Davies got mixed up with this.Well,how did Basil Rathbone get into "The Magic Sword?"How did Ben Kingsley end up in "BloodRayne?"(His foray in "Oliver Twist"is a real mess,too.)How did Sidney Poitier get into "The Long Ships?"

We all have some messes in our careers,and this was one for him.Either he owed somebody a favor;he had some obligations for a particular director and/or producer;he needed the cash-we all have that happening once in a while-;or he had a blank spot in his calendar,and wanted to keep his hand in.As the man said"You can't win them all."

I'm over-voting a little because I think the average is too low. This is a good film for the female roles it develops. Medina and Nessa are both strong characters, one more of a warrior and the other more of a mad scientist type. I'm all for strong female characters. Any romantic interaction with the two ladies takes second place to their heroine-ism in the face of almost-certain death. The opening plot element of a king seeking refuge in another kingdom in the face of a more-or-less natural disaster is more common in end-of-the-world-climate-change flicks. The sound of the flying dragon seems to have been lifted from WWII flying fortress movies. The near-comic dishonesty of the two kings is trumped by the purer evil of the dragons -- a nice post-modern touch. We do now seem to suffer the dishonesty of our political leaders and, perhaps, the dragons we hope for, be they space aliens or whatever, would provide a refreshing change from evil embodied in men we are expected to respect.

I have seen far worse and more time-wasting movies than Dragon Storm. It could have been much better but also much worse. I did think the dragons on the whole were well done, with good movement and design, and their battle was the highlight of the film. The costume and set design are also decent, not stunning as such but at least there is a fantasy-adventure element. John-Rhys Davies is a very enjoyable presence, hammy yet dignified. Dragon Storm definitely could have had some improvements though. The editing is rather choppy, luckily the rest of the production values weren't so bad(compared to other low-budget films I've seen recently) but if they were alongside with the editing the film would have been very cheap to look at. Sadly the camera work isn't much better either, with a lot of dizzying quick shots and edits that if you are not used to can make you a bit seasick. The story does have some exciting moments, mainly with the dragons, but a lot of it is rather dull with lots of things happening for no reason. Although the sets are not too bad the film is very sparsely populated, making it hard to believe that we are talking about two feuding kingdoms and excepting the dragons the rest of the effects are cheaply rendered, stunt actors doing the whole fire gag gets old fast. The dialogue is horrendously stilted, and apart from Davies the acting is wooden. Overall, not a movie I'd recommend but I have seen worse. I am just wondering whether SyFy are ever going to make an at least worthwhile dragon movie(even the best one is heavily flawed), but if they have in all honesty I haven't seen it. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I rated it a 2 because the dragons were really not that bad. It would have been less than a 1 without CGI. I look forward to seeing some of that same dragon footage in some other low budget flick.

However, what this movie needed (besides some semblance of continuity, a script, and professional editing and direction) was some gratuitous sex and nudity. OK fine, you got to see half of one of the Princess' breasts in one scene but if you really want to be successful in the `dragons-from-outer-space-in-1190-Carpathia' genre you have to have eye candy. I know it had plenty of violence and it was `made for TV' but it's just kind of sad when you can see men being burned alive (the same men over and over in slow motion in this case) but no naked women. This movie could have easily been a 5 or 6 with some full frontal nudity and maybe even a 7 with some hot girl-on-girl action. At least it would have made the story a little more interesting if the Princess' love interest had been the girl with the catapult instead of the rather limp-wristed `huntsman' (did you see the way he held the bow?). What a waste of the budget to hire women like that and then cover them in those hideous costumes.

Also, I'm really trying to not be too critical but I would think with a little editing and sound work they could have gotten some of the actor's accents to match (with the exception of the obligatory Kung Fu Master of course).

Overall, I can't recommend this movie (it has to be at least a 3 before I will do that) but I did have a good time watching it. If you do decide to subject yourself to this movie I would recommend a sedative (like tequila) to dull the pain.

This is one of the most badly written movies I've seen in a long time.

The movie is quit ridicules. The movie is about dragons from outer space(!) who are attacking a kingdom during the dark ages. A team gets assembled to defeat the 5 remaining dragons. But like that's not enough already, the movie is also about a conspiracy by the bad king to overthrow to the good king, though both kings seemed like bad ones to me to be honest.

The movie is quite laughable. It tries to be spectacular, funny and even epic. It tries so hard that it becomes ultimately laughable, because the movie itself is far from spectacular, funny and especially epic. The production values of the movie are far too low, though the movie certainly does not feature the wost special effects I've ever seen, especially considering that this is a made-for-TV-movie. That perhaps was the only thing that surprised me positively about the movie.

Otherwise the movie isn't too good looking. The sets are obvious ruins and the mass scenes are a disgrace. Launching a full scale attack on a kingdom with about 15, under equipped, men is a very laughable thing to watch, especially because throughout the movie the attack is presented as a great and serious threat to the kingdom.

The movie is filled with many unlikely characters. The main 'hero' is horrible looking, with an obvious fake wig. The rest of the dragon-slayer team consist out of the formulaic characters you would expect. None of them is really interesting or gets developed well enough in the movie. How did John Rhys-Davies ever got mixed up in this mess? Perhaps he wanted a small Lord of the Rings rehash?

The action is presented as if its the most spectacular things ever brought to the screen. The first explosion of the movie really made me crackup. A small wooden shed exploded in extreme slow-motion with a stunt person flying in slow motion away from the explosion. So incredibly over-the-top, I mean a it's a small woodshed! But yet the movie tries to make it look like a large, wooden, gunpowder filled ship is blowing up. The movie features far too many unneeded slow motion action sequences. I hate it when a movie uses bluntly slow motion as a tool to make the simple action look more spectacular, especially when it really isn't.

The movie is not just poorly written, it's also very poorly put together. The movie features some plain bad editing and musical score. I've you have a musical score like this one, you're probably better of not having a musical score at all! The movie further more also features some awkward humor. The kind that just isn't funny in a movie, though it all probably looked good and hilarious on paper. The movie also has some of the worst and most annoying sound effects I've heard in a long time. Lowest point of the movie its sound effects; the constant fake put over giggling of a couple of youngster who enter a dragon cave. Incredibly annoying and fake.

But no, it's not among the worst movies I've ever seen. The movie sill offers some good clean fun entertainment, even though the execution of it all is far from brilliant. The movie is very predictable and it tries very hard to be better than it really is. It makes the movie unintentionally laughable at times.

4/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Yes it's total crap,but sometimes total crap can be great fun and this film is.I like Dragons in films, but they have to look like the real deal.I think that most of a low budget went on them and they certainly get full marks.There are alas also some very poor effects of people in obvious fire protection gear being set on fire by said dragons. And then there is the king of low budget romps, the wonderful Mr John Rhys- Davies,playing a king with no food or money and he, just as usual, seems to be having fun. This is not a new film,it played on the teatime slot here in UK on the horror channel august 2011 and i have never heard of it before.Top listed is British actor Maxwell Caulfield who was married to Sir John Mills actress daughter Juliet. He was the star of the awful Grease 2 (1982) and never got any decent parts after that.His wig looks a fright. Script is fun, though to modern for a film set in the 12th century. There is also some Kung Fu for the kids, the film looks OK and the Dragons really are first rate. Harmless fun for the undemanding.

This is another in a long line of films that I can only recommend as background noise, or entertainment that one can laugh at more than take to seriousness. Dragon Storm really tries more than the other productions Sci-Fi has aired, but too hard. The acting is really forced, and the only performance worth highlighting is John Rhys-Davis, as his portrayal as the treacherous king is given such Shakespearean bravado that it's actually quite good. The special effects, for what they were worth, are okay, though they use the same templates over and over again to exhaustion. To touch the tip of the iceberg, those are the few good things of this film.

What worked was the film as a whole: it had good pacing, and even for a guilty pleasure as it is, it is very easy to watch without getting impatient. It's such a ridiculous film that it succeeds in keeping the audience pulled in to continue.

What didn't work was the film's overall lackluster appeal. The costume designs seem very lazy, and the hunter's wig will provide a lot of laughs to how feminine it makes this grungy guy look. Another flaw would have to be the aforementioned lame acting. The scene with the teenagers wandering through the forest (drunk on mead, and with two girls) was so hilariously awful, that how the director thought that that was a worthy cut to include in the film is beyond me.

The characters are not very original, and are the clichés that must fill the inevitable team of slayers. The recruitment scene (with the hunter and "scientist") was slightly funny, but the slow-motion to make the China-man's karate see more effective was hilarious in its poorness. The final flaw would have to be the ending; none of our characters get real conclusions befitting them -- and beforehand, the deaths of some of the main people were ridiculous and did nothing for the story.

All in all, there were a lot of poor decisions with this film, and the director should never get to make another film -- unless it was meant to be this bad. Not a lot works in this film, and I can only recommend it to people who, like me, get a kick out of watching bad movies.

While the special effects in this movie are exceedingly well done (oh my, was that a PUN?) there are some disappointing elements to this film. In my opinion, the director's work was sub-par on several levels, and the costuming was at some points laughable.

While the overall plot had some merits, the script itself was terribly mundane and lacked vision. In fact, with some costuming tweaks, better script writers, and a different director, this film might have been extraordinary, but as is, the only redeeming qualities of this film were good performances on the part of the actors, and the WONDERFUL (and we do need to use caps there) special effects.

The dragon creatures in this film move and fly with fluid grace, and virtually "bring to life" the vision of what a dragon could be. On this point alone, the movie is well worth seeing.

this movie was , without a doubt, the worst movie i have ever seen. you know that point that the movie is so bad that you have to finish it just so you know how it ends so it doesn't bug you and you are forced to rent it again? well this movie is beyond that point. me and my friend rented it and it was so bad that we stopped it about a half hour from the end. we now keep a list of the worst movies ever and this is easily on top with no contender. i saw the movie a couple of years ago so i don't remember what made it so bad but i do remember that the acting was just plain horrible. the only way for you to comprehend how bad this movie is, is to see it but so help me god please DO NOT RENT OR SEE THIS MOVIE i cannot stress that enough.

Once in a while a movie viewer, (and I watch about two hundred films a year) comes across a movie that's so incompetent in its acting and story telling attempt that it is actually impossible to turn away from it just because you absolutely have to stick around to the very end just to see how absolutely bad it actually gets. If you know what kind of movies I'm talking about then add this one to the list at the very top. The only positive thing I can say about this waste of two hours is that the Dragon special effects are (grudgingly admitting so) halfway decent. The rest, assign to oblivion.

Once again, people come under attack from dragons and some guys are dispatched to defeat them.

Thankfully, this movie isn't anywhere near the level of insufferable boredom "Reign of Fire" had. Actually, despite dragons being majestic and impressive, films featuring dragons rarely reflect similar aspects.

"Dragon Storm" is surprisingly not based on the screenwriter's "dungeons and dragons" experiences which sets this apart from most similar ones.

John Rhys-Davis as usual plays an untrustworthy character, something terribly common, actually. This man succeeds in showing charisma quite well yet often plays unlikable characters.

As for storyline, actually there's occasionally long gaps between action scenes although the characters generally have more substance than Syfy's regular films and there is sometimes comic relief. The inclusion of the medieval equivalent of horny drunken teens were pretty amusing.

I watched this and as we know the 2nd reason for making a movie is entertainment (1st being money). If they called this entertainment, then the Battlefield Earth was defintely the best movie ever made. I made a better movie when I was in junior high school. I agree about the plot (uhh, what was the plot). Acting was poor at best, Rhys-Davies is an excellent actor and even he couldn't pull this one out. The Action was horrifying. Stunts were terrible and the only other good thing in the movie (besides Rhys-Davies)was the CGI dragons. Decent dragons, liked the crunching. They should take this movie back and start over again and this time use money to pay people to actually make a movie.

No wonder the Sci Fi Channel didn't promote this film as vigorously as many of their others. On paper it sounds like a fun concept -- medieval kingdoms forced to cooperate in order to contend with a fresh infestation of dragons. Execution is everything, however, and in this case the director, screenwriter, and most of the actors ought to be executed.

Believe it or not, I do not relish being so harsh about the film. For one thing, I love medieval films of all stripes, and want to encourage Hollywood to make more. But this is one of the most amateurish productions I've ever had the displeasure to see on television. With the notable exception of John Rhys-Davies, the acting was execrable. No wonder the cast isn't listed on IMDb beyond him and Maxwell Caulfield (about whom the best I can say is that at least he didn't totally suck, like the rest of them). Actually, the guy who played the huntsman wasn't irredeemably bad, either.

This was obviously a low-budget film. The dragons at least didn't look half-bad, though the movie was (for budgetary reasons, no doubt) rather parsimonious with their appearances. But the rest of the production values -- a bare-bones cast, lame costumes, an embarrassing lack of extras or sets -- the castles seemed dangerously underpopulated, and since when have you seen a "tavern" scene set entirely out of doors, especially in the middle of winter? -- revealed nothing but amateurism and lack of funds.

Most of the money must have gone to John Rhys-Davies; not a bad decision, in my opinion, but he was wasted in a role that was rarely on-screen. I feel very sorry for Mr. Rhys-Davies, actually, because he is a much better actor than this movie. He must either really need the money or have really relished finally getting an opportunity to play a villainous medieval king -- a role for which he was born. I truly hope he gets more, and better, chances.

As for the direction, in a word it was horrid. If I see one more slow-motion scene of someone falling off a building, or catching fire... Someone needs to teach whoever really directed this film (according to the onscreen credits, someone named Feuerstein, according to IMBd, Stephen Furst -- I can completely understand the reluctance of anybody to take credit) that slow-motion is only effective if used sparingly. Actually, someone needs to teach the director a new trade, because film direction clearly ain't it. The screenplay also needs a tremendous amount of work. (Again, we're not sure who wrote it -- IMBd says Patrick Phillips, while the film credits say someone named Sam Wells.) I hate to use the word "episodic," but it clearly belongs here, as the script went from one seemingly unrelated incident to another.

The whole opening sequence, of the dragons attacking the "fortress" outside of Rhys- Davies' castle, illustrates my point. It really has nothing to do with the rest of the story. There is a whole long bit where dragons first attack a peasant in a wood shed, who runs to the fort. And then the fort is attacked and destroyed, but not before a soldier escapes to warn Rhys-Davies, who naturally thinks he's full of it. Then the dragons attack Rhys-Davies' castle, eventually burning it to the ground and driving Rhys-Davies and his remarkably paltry band of supporters into the woods.

Now, what was the point of all the dragon attacks, up until the one on Rhys-Davies' castle, which is the first one to set the plot (such as it is) in motion? The plot really doesn't really get going until about 40 minutes, at least, into a 2-hour movie, when a group begins to gather to counter-attack the dragons. The whole subplot of Rhys- Davies trying to best Caulfield's king seems tacked on, virtually irrelevant. There are a few good moments of suspense about half of the way through, when the dragon-hunting group is stalking and fighting the dragons. It's just unfortunate that we have to slog through so much amateurish acting and irrelevant proceedings to get to that point.

View at your own risk.

Two kingdoms are at war. One King ( John Rhys Davies) has is kingdom burned to the ground by dragons. The CGI in this movie is surprisingly good for a TV movie and the action sequences are pretty good. The only real problem was casting and language, both of which made you think that you were watching a manufactured hollywood story rather then a story which may have really happened. The casting problems I reffered to are with Silas and the Princess. Silas has the voice of a warrior and good acting skills however he LOOKS like a modern day office worker. The princess also displays a modern day look of an actress. IN total I gave this movie 8 stars because it was pretty entertaining and for a TV movie one of the best as far as budget will let it be.

Dragon Storm starts in outer space as various meteorites hurtle towards Earth, cut to 'Carpathia 1190 A.D.' as these meteorites land they hatch & large fire-breathing Dragons emerge. A messenger (Vlado Nikolov) informs King Fastrad (John Rhys-Davies) whose Castle is attacked by the Dragons & his people slaughtered, King Fastrad escapes with Theldag (Tony Amendola) his bodyguard who hire a huntsman named Silas (Maxwell Caulfield) to take them to the Castle of King Wednesbury (John Hansson) for protection. Once there Fastrad tells Wednesbury about the Dragon threat that threatens to wipe out his kingdom. King Wednesbury orders his mage Remmegar (Richard Wharton) & Silas to set up a team of Dragonslayers to seek out & destroy the alien Dragons...

Directed by Stephen Furst there is little in Dragon Storm to recommend. The script by Patrick Phillips & Sam Wells is basic, sloppily paced & plotted & commits the unforgivable crime of all but neglecting the Dragons in favour of annoying comedy relief character's & an uninteresting sub-plot about overthrowing King Wednesbury. It's rather predictable & is less than exciting to watch. I would have liked to have seen the Dragons eat some people, one Dragon bites someone's head off at the end but that's it, they just use they're fire breath to wreck havoc which becomes boring very quickly. Also what's with the bizarre notion that Dragons come from outer space?!

Director Furst ruins anything the film might have had going for it, the action scenes are so lacklustre & unexciting it's hard to believe anyone could have made such a mess of it. The character's just stand there looking very uncomfortable, almost as if their not sure as what their meant to be doing. The fights & Dragon battles are tedious in the extreme & these Dragons sure do die easily & don't even seem to put up much of a fight.

Dragon Strom was made-for-TV, it was shot in Sofia, Bulgaria & had a budget of about $1,000,000. The whole thing has a cheap look about it although most of the CGI Dragon effects are actually pretty impressive which is a bit of a surprise, it's just a shame they aren't used to any great effect & the rest of the film is poor. The locations are obviously derelict run down tourist attractions. The acting is average at best.

Dragon Storm isn't very good, it's cheap & doesn't provide much in the way of entertainment. Both Dragonheart (1996) & Reign of Fire (2002), big Budget Hollywood Dragon themed films, are far superior to Dragon Storm in every way. Worth a watch if you can catch it on TV for free & nothing else is on but it's not worth going out of your way or spending good money to secure a copy.

The things which were right included the wonderful performance by John Rhys-Davies, the inclusion of the jester-dressed martial arts dragon slayer, wonderful vistas and views, wonderful (if not excellent) "alien" dragons, and great dialog.

The problems with it included the horrible delivery of said great dialog; the casting was extremely uneven which made for low charisma between the

characters and the timing of the whole production was a bit off. The armor and costuming were too new and stole from the finished product the opportunity to lend some air of authenticity to the era. The crown worn by Wednesbury was

obviously modern designed, manufactured and the jewels were of obvious

plastic and appeared to have been molded onto the "paper/foil" crown. It was sickening. The structures and sets suffered the same anachronistic sickness as did the costumes and props.

Also, the dragon in the beginning could have received a much better treatment. I know people who do graphics for themselves, for their own home-run website, who do better graphics than the CGI we were presented in the beginning of this flick. When you slow it down and watch it frame by frame, they lack definition and character as they do when just watching it normally.

Half way through the movie, however, these dragons take on a whole new dimension and are given the treatment they deserved. This went a long way into redeeming this film, although the chunky direction and badly timed delivery still manages to drag down what (when given proper attention) is a really well written, creative, and "A" movie worthy screenplay/teleplay. Someone should actually do this for the Big screen, using the same script. This could have been SO much more than this crappy little television movie.

How sad that they couldn't have acquired better talent to portray this work. It's a real shame to have to repeat the dialog to yourself in your mind to get the inflections and wit behind it. And the voices? Were those dubbed or what? They didn't seem to match up to the moving lips. It was like watching a bad 1970's Kung Fu Theater feature. Of course, that came and went as the movie progressed. The score was actually quite good and many times was the only things carrying the movie through the horrible dry deliveries and really bad acting.

Alas! It wasn't enough.

But let's work with what we do have.

We have "The Lament." John, oh JOHN! What are you DOING? Jackson cast actors who needed a big break or a fresh start, and as soon as LotR is over, THIS is what you go back to?! You're wasting yourself and your talents on crap like this!

We have "The Jester-Dressed Far Eastern Dragon Slayer." He chops. He kicks; he gives you true Chinese philosophical wisdoms, and all the while, he never gets a wrinkle in his acetate jester shirt. Not even when wearing his hard leather armor at the dinner table.

We have "Lil Miss You Could Have Knocked" who rubs herself over the heated water barrel and hides her already hidden breasts instead of her nether-regions which AREN'T covered. Way to be coy and discreet, girl. 4 Real. I mean, she's leaning into that barrel, giving it a look that definitely says, "I hate these medieval movies! Where is the SPIN cycle on this thing?!"

We have "Mr. I've Never Heard of a Hairbrush or a BONE to Brush My Hair" Huntsman who looks as if he is wearing a very bad wig, and if he's not, he should watch out for that family of spiders who have obviously nested in his hair.

And we have some good-looking dragon's fire, dragon sequences and after the first few minutes' hesitation, dragons that they weren't afraid to let you see in nice, stunning detail. Kudos to the effects people (those who gave you Python) for the stunning work.

Why all this for some Made For TV (which means "Not Fit For The Big Screen") Crap-Fest? Because of what it COULD have been. This screen play and the dialog found therein, is witty and wonderful. It was just very poorly demonstrated by the severe lack of talent in the direction and in the portrayals.

It rates a 7.8/10 on the "B" scale from...

the Fiend :.

I'm a fan of the famed Dwarf of Lord of the Rings ( I still remember his work in the Wing Commander video game ). My apologies to you, sir, but your character was terrible in this movie.

The only guy that did any good was Ling, and that's stretching it. An interesting plot premise, but very VERY bad execution.

From Stargate to Dragon Storm, that wasn't a good move.

The hunter/hero guy reminds me for some reason of someone on Babylon 5. I'm going to have nightmares over this one, that's for sure.

For a hoot, it's worth it if you got the MVP pass to Hollywood Video, but I sure wouldn't pay for this one.