Movie Review: Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness (2012)

(Note: This movie is part of the Dungeons & Dragons Movie Series. For more movies, see the entries for the 2000 movie and its 2005 sequel).

I had no idea this was in the works, so I was pleasantly surprised when SyFy decided to premiere the movie on its channel.  It cased a buzz in my gaming circle, and I also wanted to watch it as well.  I eventually got to watch it, and it was worth my time, unlike some D&D movies.  The best part of this surprise was the subject matter of the movie: the Book of Vile Darkness.

To be fair, the movie is not about the singular artifact called the book of vile darkness--a tome suffused with so much evil from its human-skin book cover to the foul contents penned in blood that it makes whomever reads it turn evil--but about the quest to stop it from being recreated by a dark cult bent on having darkness rule the lands once again.  This monumental task is taken up by one paladin of Pelor named Grayson Azrael (Jack Derges).

When his paladin order, the Knights of the New Sun, is nearly wiped out save for himself and his captured father, Grayson must go undercover and join a group of evil adventurers:

• Akordia (Eleanor Gecks), a female shadar-kai witch
• Vimak (Habib Nasib Nader), a male goliath barbarian
• Seith (Lex Daniel), a male human assassin
• Bezz (Barry Aird), a male human vermin lord

THE PARTY ASSEMBLED (from l-r):
Vimak the barbarian, Seith the assassin,
Bezz the vermin lord, Akordia the witch,
and Sir Grayson the paladin. That is not a typo.

Sir Grayson braves the depths of depravity while holding up his morality, sleeping with an evil spellcaster (that means Akordia; he's doesn't go boning dudes to save the world), even slaying a red dragon in the process to get closer to the...I'm not sure if I can really say this..."mind flayer" Shathrax.  This strange creature is responsible for trying to recreate the book AND for capturing Grayson's father.  Grayson will travel very far to reach his goal, from his home kingdom all the way to the Elemental Plane of Air--or was it the Plane of Shadow?  I couldn't be sure, but wherever they were there wasn't a lot of ground to work with.  At the end of it all, this movie was a lot better than its predecessors despite being based on the rules for the 4th edition D&D.  I was riveted to my seat for a great deal of the movie, mainly because of the attention to detail about the technical game stuff.

(actual product, written for D&D 3.0 rules)

They got most of the races and monsters right--the fire archon, red dragon, and especially the slaymate (an undead creature from Libris Mortis).  I almost crawled over the back of my chair when I saw it in action.  The mind flayer was no mind flayer at all, but some guy with his mouth sewn shut.  The magic items used were pretty on the nose, like the javelin of lightning, and the collars of obedience combined with the belt of the emperor that Shathrax wore.  Vorpal blades, necklace of fireballs, bag of holding; you name it, it was in there.  The film even had a fun time with the spells, namely invisibility.  And I was amazed.

It can be said that anything worth doing takes time, practice, and a whole lot of stress.  In the case of Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness, the 7 years between live-action projects was worth it.  I recommend this movie, not because it's all that good but because someone had the balls to make another one even after the first two films were critically panned in the theaters and the direct-to-video market.  I hope someone is as care-free to produce and direct the next D&D film, because I will watch it.  And I hope you will too.

RATING: 8/10

The Tale of Aild Sky - a Product of 24-Hour Comic Book Day!

I've posted my resulting work from 24-Hour Comic Book Day on my Wordpress site, so here goes:
http://sgwatson.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/the-tale-of-aild-sky-a-product-of-24-hour-comic-book-day/

Enjoy!,
-swatson

Cordoba Chronicles I: A Forward

This bit is to let you all know that the novella "Cordoba Chronicles IV: the Necromancer's Fury" was not written in a vacuum, and not without prior setup.

I created the fantasy world of Cordoba from 1994 to 1997 while attending high school at Design and Architecture Senior High, a magnet art school in Miami, FL.  It was in response to a lack of cool fantasy stories accessible to the mainstream audience.  I made a point to make something I wanted to see, and I figured that the big thing missing from the stories I liked and knew were the fact that there were no popular leading Black or dark-skinned characters.  They had popular Black supporting characters (sidekicks, rivals, mentors, love interests, etc.) but none that the average viewer would want to emulate, due to the lack of a leading role. These Black characters are not the center of a universe, and no story is told or experienced through their eyes. I decided to change that.

The story has a great number of influences. Cartoons, comics, science fiction, video games and action films were a big portion of my life prior to writing the Cordoba Chronicles, so a great deal of influence comes from them.

The short list reads like this:

• The graphic novels TITANS: Scissors, Paper, Stone, Ninja High School and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Book II
• the DC comic book Legionnaires (formerly Legion of Superheroes, rebooted after Zero Hour in 1994)
• CAPCOM's "Mega Man 2" and "Street Fighter 2010: the Final Fight"
• "Black Magic: M-66", "Bubblegum Crisis", "Appleseed", "AKIRA", and other Japanese animation films
• the American cartoons "Galaxy High School", "Beverly Hills Teens", "Jem", "Centurions: Power X-Treme", "Thundercats", Silverhawks", "Tigersharks", "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe", "Bravestarr", "Bionic Six", "Shirt Tales", "Dinosaucers", "The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers",
• the British cartoon "DangerMouse",
• the French cartoons "Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea" (AKA "Les Mondes Engloutis") and "Ulysses 31"
• Live action shows like "Ultraman", "Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future", and of course "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers"
• the Universal Pictures' "Action Pack" movie "Hercules and the Circle of Fire" starring Kevin Sorbo and the follow-up TV series "Hercules: the Legendary Journeys"
• the "Star Trek" TV series (TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager) and the original "Star Wars" trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi)
• the movie "Conan the Destroyer"
• the 1980 movie "Flash Gordon"
• the movie "Passenger 57"
• the Japanese animation imports "Voltron: Defender of the Universe", "Transformers", "Robotech", "Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs", and "Mysterious Cities of Gold"

It goes without saying that I have a long-standing flirtation with Dungeons & Dragons (both the game and the cartoon), regardless of what people say.  I think I've said enough; I hope you enjoy Cordoba Chronicles I. Enjoy!

-swatson