Movie Review: Dragon Hunter

Dragon Hunter a.k.a The Fire Dragon Chronicles 

Ground Glass Entertainment, Dragon Hunter Films, USA, 2009. 

Darius (Erik Denton) and his little brother Kendrick (Maclain Nelson) were orphaned when orcs attacked their home. Years later they have become orc hunters. Dragon attacks village and the brothers have to flee. Darius tries to travel to Ocard where dragon hunters are trained. 

Darius and Kendrick

They meet a group of dragon hunters led by Nathan (Orlando Seale). Elf scout Raya (Kelly Stables), berserk Olick (Isaac C. Singleton Jr.), careful Rolland (Slate Holmgren), two loudmouth thieves Malnik (Adam Johnson) and Shadron (Jake Suazo) and a simpleminded young guy Henry (Jason Purdie). 

Raya

Malnik, Henry and Shadron

Olick goes into berserk mode

The rest of the group thinks Kendrick is useless so Darius has to defend him. Raya is impressed by his bravery so she falls in love with him. As some of the party members are wounded they go to Oswin's camp. Local wizard and camp leader Oswin (David Morgan) is inept and an idiot. Raya is much better healer. Old man named Aaron (Newell Alexander) knows how dragons breed (much like Aliens) but nobody believes him. 

Orcs

Dragon

In Ocard Darius reveals that it is Kendrick's destiny to be the dragon hunter. Kendrick is weak and needs a lot of training. We're gonna need a montage! 

The whole movie has a melancholic tone. Most of the characters have some kind of trauma that forces them to continue fighting. It gives some realism to the characters but results also to boring moments in the second act. The story moves at glacial speed. Still the slow speed would be forgivable if some of the characters weren't so incredibly stupid and I mean Snails-level stupid. The cinematography looks nice but the action scenes have this shaky camera syndrome that make the action look chaotic. Seriously, shaky cam needs to die. The action  is not all bad. The coolest scene is when the berserk kills about dozen orcs with his bare hands. 

The movie has ambitious ideas trying to portray some serious fantasy characters who are damaged by war but some stupid moments ruin the attempt to seriousness.

Rating: Average

Starring: Kelly Stables, Brad Johnson, Newell Alexander, Erik Denton, Slate Holmgren, Adam Johnson, Brian King, David Morgan, Maclain Nelson, Jason Purdie, Bob Richardson, Orlando Seale, Derrik Shakespear, Isaac C. Singleton Jr., Jake Suazo, Jared Aisen, Adam Barbay, Reese Phillip Purser 

Director: Stephen Shimek