Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dungeons & Dragons 2: Wrath of the Dragon God | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover for the film |
|
| Directed by | Gerry Lively |
| Written by | Robert Kimmel Brian Rudnick |
| Starring | Mark Dymond Clemency Burton-Hill Bruce Payne Ellie Chidzey |
| Music by | David Julyan |
| Cinematography | Igor Meglic |
| Editing by | Rodney Holland |
| Distributed by | Sci Fi Pictures original films |
| Release date(s) |  October 8, 2005 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12,000,000 USD |
| Preceded by | Dungeons & Dragons |
Dungeons and Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God is a 2005 fantasy film directed by Gerry Lively. It is a made-for-TV sequel of sorts to the 2000 film Dungeons & Dragons, which in turn was based on the popular role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (or D&D). The only returning actor is Bruce Payne reprising his role as the evil Damodar. DVD release was February 7, 2006.
Variants of the title include Dungeons and Dragons 2: The Elemental Might.[citation needed]
Contents |
[edit] Story
Due to a curse from his former master Profion, Damodar survived his death by Ridley Freeborn as an undead entity in pursuit of an evil artifact for some hundred years, so that he might be capable of unleashing unstoppable destruction on Izmir and the descendants of those who caused his demise. The movie opens as he finally gets his hands on the artifact after being lead by a magmin, a mysterious black orb also the power source of Faluzure (the black dragon god of destruction and decay), freeing himself from the undead curse after splitting a lake protected by a kraken and serving under Faluzure to completely resurrect the monster.
Soon, Izmir is alerted to the rising of this ancient evil. Berek, a fighter and former captain of the king's guard, now a bored and unsatisfied lord of the King, and Melora, his wife, a gifted young mage, identify Faluzure's eventual revival as poison towers erupt from the mountain that Falazure was sealed in. The King requests that Berek is to assemble a party of adventurers; a group small enough to travel to Damodar's lair undetected, but strong enough to face their enemies. Lux (a female barbarian), Dorian (a male Cleric of Obad-Hai), Ormaline (a female elven wizard), and Nim (a rogue) join the former captain of the king's guard to eliminate the threat of Faluzure reawakening.
[edit] D&D Canon
Unlike the first movie, which could be considered medium-budget, this is a low-budget production with a cast of relatively newcomers (with the exception of Bruce Payne as Damodar). Also unlike the first movie, many details from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game have been included. The professions of the five adventurers are accurately depicted and they work together, each utilizing their individual strengths. The equipment of the adventurers are items which avid gamers will probably recognize (e.g. gem of true seeing, flask of purple worm acid, vorpal sword, ring of the ram, staff of lightning, mace of thunder, etc...). The spells cast by wizards are accurate renditions of the ones from the roleplaying game, namely that spells are not cast at will, but must first be prepared and in limited amounts.
The villains have also been designed closely to the D&D canon. As part of the bestiary, one can find an aggressive white dragon, darkmantles, spectres, magmins, lizardfolk (one can be seen restoring Damodar's arm), and a lich. Special mention must be given to Klaxx the Maligned (the lich), who is behaving how a lich should according to common D&D behavior—staying close to the action for a potential piece of power or knowledge to grab, but not exactly taking any risk. There were also dead drow hanging from the ceiling and whose blood was used for Damodar's "dinner". Juiblex was also mentioned, but the demon lord wasn't actually in the film.
There are also a number of references to classic D&D modules (The Ghost Tower of Inverness, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, etc.) in the film.
Of special note is the commentary track which is composed of "Lidda," "Krusk," and "Jozan" (iconic characters from the third edition D&D ruleset) quipping upon the action on the screen.
From quick glimpses in the DVD's Interview with Gary Gygax, the heroes are shown to have the following stats in the D&D game:
| Berek | Lawful Good male human fighter 7 |
| Lux | Chaotic Good female human barbarian 7 |
| Nim | Chaotic Good male dwarf rogue 7 |
| Dorian | Neutral male human cleric 7 of Obad-Hai |
| Ormaline | Neutral female elf wizard 9 |
| Melora | Neutral Good female human cleric 1 of Obad-Hai/wizard 4 |
[edit] Reception
As of September 2009, Wrath of the Dragon God has an IMDB score of 4.9 out of 10, considerably higher than that of the original film. Professional reviews, however, have called the film disappointing. IGN scored it 3 out of 10[1], stating that only hardcore D&D fans should check it out, though mostly due to references to the game itself. Monsters and Critics awarded it 2 out of 5, stating, "If Lord of the Rings showed us how the fantasy genre can be done right, Dungeons and Dragons - Wrath of the Dragon God shows us how it can be done horribly wrong."[2]
[edit] Legacy
Early in 2007, The Sci-Fi Channel was rumored to be filming a mini-series based on the movie.[3] The series was said feature many of the original cast (Including a resurrected Dorian) and scheduled to appear in the Fall 2009 lineup. However, the blurb on SyFy.com has since been removed and no further information is available.
