Curses and Dragons —
It would appear that movies of Dragons and knights are even more popular than ever, thanks to the hugely successful Game of Thrones TV show, and fans of the genre can’t get enough. Influx recently reviewed Dragon Lore: Curse of the Shadow which was very alike The Crown and the Dragon in many ways. I would say the acting in this was of a higher standard but that could be owing to a more fluent sounding dialogue, and no one was required to speak in a strange tongue.
In a land that has the curse of a dragon over it, young noblewoman, Ellen Barethon (Amy De Bhrún) travels with her aunt, on a quest to bring an ancient relic to the secret coronation of the rightful king of their people. Her aunt is murdered while traveling along the road, by a group of enemy soldiers but Ellen escapes. Ellen Barethon (the likeness to the Baratheon name from the brilliant Game of Thrones is perhaps more than a simple coincidence) hires a criminal, Aedin (David Haydn), to accompany her over the dangerously unpredictable country, avoiding trouble, so she can take her aunt’s place at the coronation. But when Corvus (Tim Treloar), magistrate of the empire, uses black magic to recover the ancient horned relic in a bid to create untold power. Our heroine Elenn, must dig deep within herself, so she can complete her aunts task and become a Paladin, the dragonslayer, and freer of people.
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The acting by each of the cast was particularly good, with Amy De Bhrún performing Ellen convincingly. The story itself was also good but stumbled a little here and there. The dialogue, as previously mentioned was solid and flowed along nicely, adding authenticity to this Dragon fantasy. The direction was certainly adequate for this being Anne K. Black’s second low budget outing, and second fantasy too. There were touches of levity as Ellen and Aedin added some comic relief with some amusing scenes, some of which were accompanied by bagpipes no less. I enjoyed this movie but the faults were many and the Dragons few, but that said, it held my interest throughout so I think most people who like this genre should find it as appealing as I did.
Grade: C+
Review by John Thomas
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Director: Anne K. Black
Writers: Anne K. Black, Kynan Griffin
Stars: Nicola Posener, Vidal Sancho, David Haydn – Cast List Here
