The Rise of the Shadow Warrior [DVD] [2013]

Right from the start I wasn't sure what this movie was trying to be. It's low budget, but not done on a shoestring. It is telling a big story about a battle between a mystical 'Shadow' cult, elves, orcs and a devotee of a mysterious deity (this deity/priestess is never explained properly, and doesn't last to the end of the film), but throughout the production always feels small. It has some fantastic makeup and decent costuming. It's a Lord of The Rings style of story, but with too much going on and not enough thought put into tying it all up together.What you get is a lot of amateur fight scenes, which seem to get in the way of the plot. The script is rather cheesy and much of the dialogue spoken by the lead female character is 21st century english (including slang) which grates as it feels out of place.The story all moves along quite slowly, especially in the middle act, which could have had a quite a few minutes edited out.The Blu-ray presentation is generally excellent. Fine detail is great, colours are bright and wide scenic shots are detailed and impressive. The DTS-HD MA soundtrack is clear with some great surround effects.However, this film is overly long and ponderous, with some iffy acting and unconvincing fight scenes. It's OK and has some good moments, but these are really not enough to elevate it to something special.

I'm not an out and out fantasy film (I like horror) but I really did enjoy this one. I don't understand the criticism of one review which said it was a very bad Tolkien - was it supposed to be a Tolkien. I didn't see anywhere that it was. Yeah it had orcs, elves, dwarves, dragons as well as a human but that doesn't make it the Lord of the Rings does it, and to it's credit I don't think it is trying to be. I really do think hard and fast fans of a particular run of stories such as the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter etc. should just relax. It is a bit over the top to say that any similar film is a substandard copy of massive blockbustres of these 'instant classics' that they enjoy. I think each film should be enjoyed as a separate item, otherwise if you keep picking at every little difference (or similarity) the entertainment value of these lower budget films is lost. They are the same genre, but each is a different story.The plot was simple but competently played out. I loved the idea of the 3 warriors all different species, particularly the orc. Who doesn't love an orc especially a goodie. Richard McWilliams held his own as the human and gave a talented performance.Danielle Chchran was fabulous as the elf, I don't think anyone could have done the part justice as she did. It was so good to see a female role that wasn't just in support of the men or which pushed the male roles to the back. It was just right and all three actors did a fantastic job and interracted well. It really did amp up the enjoyment of the whole movie for me.The scenery and backdrops were beautiful and the costume department must have worked overtime because they did a fantastic job, very realistic. The reason for the docked star though was because some of the special effects were a little bit underwhelming, they could have spent just a little bit more on that. Also the ending didn't quite meet the standards of the rest film and was a little bit of a let down.It ended as if there was going to be a sequel so it's a shame that didn't come about because it would have been great to see these 3 characters in action again.I loved this movie one of the best lower budget films of this genre that I've seen.

It's a long tiem since I spent time with the fantasy world in film entertainment, but a sight of a positive comment about this production as well as its competitive cost persuaded me to give it a try. Not fromone of the BIG studios, but I was pleasantly surprised by the production values and use of the Utah USA locations to tell the story, which involves some intriguing characters and a plentiful amount of action inits fantasy tale context. I was disappointed by the absence of subtitles, not least for the fact that theaudio level was (to my older UK ears) not often adequate for clarity of dialogue even at full volume on my TV/headphones set-up...an irritating aspect in a genre that involves the sort of language, accents and terminology.that can be part of this type of filmed entertainment originating in a foreign land, literallyand figuratively. .

This 2013 High fantasy adventure [aka: SAGA Curse of the Shadow, aka: Curse of the Dragon Slayer, aka: SAGA Curse of the Cabal], focuses on a female Elf Nemyt, whose is cursed when she slays an Orc Shaman who served the ‘Shadow’. Meanwhile, Keltus the Wanderer also seeks to destroy the ‘Shadow’, and together with a Black Orc, the unlikely trio set about stopping a ritual that will bring the God Death into their world.I wasn’t expecting much from this low budget movie but despite some clunky scenes at the start as characters were introduced and the basic plot explained, it soon provided some stunning scenery, good costumes, good special effects [although the orange sky is often blue] and colourful characters such as steampunked Dwarves, while Nemyt’ look is  something between sexy and demonic with piercing blue eyes and Yoda style ears. But much of the dialogue is cliché and awkward while the plot seemed to be written by a Role Play Gamer whose only concept of mythology comes from a flawed board game [not historical] and the names from a Random Name Generator [lose a *] while many of the sword fight sequences depend on gymnastics, rather than fighting.The single disc offers play, scene select and set up [2.0 default or 5.1] and rates a 15 for it’s loping off of heads and the general violence, and various ‘monster’ types. The film has some humour but takes itself all too seriously. It is entertaining, but in an 80’s ‘He Man’ or ‘Red Sonya’ manner, Just don't expect 'Lord of the Rings'.