Far be it from me to let a low-budget dragon
epic slip past, considering that low-budget dragon movies are
right behind Steven Seagal movies and low-budget Shark Attack
movies when it comes to representation on this low budget
website. This has led me to the conclusion that when one
is tight on a budget, and one needs a computer generated
monster, sharks and dragons must be the most economical to get
animated. But of course none of that is neither here nor
there at the moment as we prepare to inform and educate about
today's low budget dragon epic, 'Dawn of the Dragon Slayer', a
film much heavier on the melodrama than it was on the dragon
slaying.
Will Shepherd (Richard McWilliams) is an impetuous, hot headed
young man in medieval Scotland who has somehow roped his old
man into going out dragon hunting, who was really just going
along to keep an eye on the boy. Dragons have stuff in
them which will yield one a tidy sum, but of course it is
actually trapping a dragon which makes getting this stuff
exorbitantly dangerous. Tragically Will's father gets
fried like a piece of tasty bacon during this ill-fated
adventure and Will is sad. Will would like to stay home
and avenge his father, but he must honor his father's wishes
that he travel to city become a bondsman - whatever that
is - which could set him on the path of Knighthood.
On this walk Will meets some never-do-wells who chastise the
boy because he's from the mountains, which apparently is like
saying you live in a Trailer Park in this day and age, then he
runs into the lovely maiden Kate (Nicola Posener) who is
daughter to the nobleman Baron Sterling (Ian Cullen) who Will
is supposed to meet with. Sure they don't exactly hit it
off, but we all know that Love is in The Air. Love will
not be Denied. Love is Gentle and Kind.
At this point 'Dawn of the Dragon Slayer'
digs deeper into its melodramatic roots. Will is
frustrated because the Baron has the boy digging holes and
shoveling dookey which isn't very Knight-like. The
Maiden Kate is frustrated because her old man is an
insufferable asshole and won't let her do anything. Then
the roguish Knight Rogan (Phillip Brodie) shows up, sees Kate
looking all grown up and stuff and figures it would be
economically feasible if The Baron gave her to him.
Considering the Baron is financially strapped right now, this
seems like the logical thing to do. And of course
Will and Kate's initial chilliness defrosts as the seeds of
love begin to grow. A love montage shall ensue.
Eventually the Dragon shows back up causing a ruckus.
Will wants to kill it for obvious reasons but he's not quite
ready, the Baron wants it dead to gain favor with The King,
Rogan is up to absolutely no good and Kate, who dabbles in a
little witchcraft on the side, is sad since her old man is
being jerkier than usual and Will has decided a poor mountain
boy shouldn't be with a beautiful princess. Then Will
gets ready for that dang dragon, Rogan gets his, the Baron
becomes slightly less of an asshole and love has come full
circle.
So… 'Dawn of the Dragon Slayer' is actually a pretty decent
movie, as long as you're prepared for what you are signing on
for before you enter the room. I wasn't really prepped
for a melodramatic, soap opera-esque medieval tale that just
happened to have a dragon show up on occasion, but at this
point I'm used to adjusting my expectations on the fly.
For starters the movie is well acted, young Richard McWilliams
able to create a character that realistically transforms
himself over the course of the film while still retaining
qualities which keeps him human as opposed to elevating him to
super-human status. Phillip Brodie made for a solid
charming and duplicitous cad, actress Maggie Daniels brought a
mature calming influence as Kate's wise aunt and while Nicola
Posener was performed well and is an absolutely lovely young
woman, she had an awful lot of histrionics applied to her
character which may have gotten a little annoying after a
while, but this is melodrama. Director Anne K. Black's
camera captured some stunning images of some magnificent Irish
vistas, and the musical score was one of the more majestic
ones we've heard for a film of this type.
But since Ms. Black's film is more of drama / relationship /
romance type of movie the pacing maybe a little too deliberate
for some since most of the focus is on the characters and what
they are dealing with. I'm of the opinion that this only
becomes a problem if one is sitting around waiting for the
dragon slaying mayhem to fire up, to which we must point out
that the viewer waiting for this dragon mayhem will ultimately
be disappointed because the dragon mayhem is far and few
between. When the dragon does show up for its extended
cameos a couple of times, it looks good, it's plenty mean and
its integration in the surrounding scenery is okay though it's
interaction with the human characters is a little squapity,
but the dragon is more of a plot device than a central theme
in this movie.
Still, now armed with the knowledge of what kind of movie this
is, we are also of the opinion that 'Dawn of the Dragon
Slayer' succeeds and provides a different slant on the
medieval dragon epic than we're accustomed to seeing.
