Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King weaves a medieval Nordic tale of an orphan boy prince who later becomes a dragon-slaying hero. The tale begins as young Prince Eric awakens to the sounds of battle, as his homeland is being attacked. He is spirited away by his mother and through a chain of events that you can discover for yourself, comes into the care of a blacksmith played by Max Von Sydow (
Minority Report,
What Dreams May Come,
Judge Dredd). Boy becomes man and eventually meets his match in the beautiful, but scary Brunnhild, warrior Queen of Iceland (played by Kristanna Loken of
Terminator 3 and
BloodRayne fame). They pledge their undying love to one another as she heads back to Iceland. Life happens and the lowly blacksmith slays a vicious dragon, immediately becoming the hero of his kingdom, and a very wealthy man in the process. But along with the dragon’s horde of gold and magical ring comes a curse, of course, so things don’t go as planned. Magic, treachery, love and deceit intertwine to create quite a rollercoaster tale. Eric/Siegfried (blacksmith then king) is convincingly played by Benno Furman and although I haven’t seen this German actor before, he has piercing green eyes and bears a disturbing resemblance to Viggo Mortensen at certain times.
Dark Kingdom is based on an ancient Norse legend and was the inspiration for Richard Wagner’s The Ring Cycle and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Right there, fantasy fans should be perking up their ears. The storyline is good, and although certain misfortunes are predictable, it is well told. Some special effects are good, such as the dragon, and others seem a bit low-end.
There is a nice selection of Special Features such as Featurettes describing just how big a part CG and blue screen special effects played in the movie. You can also check out some behind-the-scenes and making-of info, along with the various actors talking about what drew them to the roles and what it was like working with one another.
Overall, Dragon King is a decent package and very enjoyable. It’s definitely worth a rent and if you are a fantasy movie fan, you might want to consider adding this one to your collection.
