Mythica: The Dark Spore a.k.a Mythica 2: The Darkspore
Arrowstorm Entertainment, Camera 40 Productions, USA, 2015.
Arrowstorm Entertainment, Camera 40 Productions, USA, 2015.
Adventures of wizardess Marek and her friends continue. Warrior Thane (Adam Johnson), half-elf thief Dagen (Jake Stormoen) and priestess Teela (Nicola Posener) are celebrating the victory of the previous quest but the feast turns into a wake. Teela's sister Caeryn (Natalie Devine Riskas) is murdered and everyone gets depressed. Thane starts drinking again, Dagen continues womanizing and Teela leaves. Marek sees terrible visions about evil necromancer Kishkumen (Ryan Palmer). Wizard Gojun (Kevin Sorbo) returns and tells that Marek is a necromancer too. The stone that the Priestess Sisters were protecting one part of the Dark Spore that the evil necromancer Szorlok (Matthew Mercer) seeks. Szorlok was beaten by Gojun and he is still weak but gains power with each fragment of Dark Spore he gets.
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| Szorlok |
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| Kishkumen |
To avenge Caeryn and stop necromancers destroying the world, the team packs up and travels to ruined city where the second fragment is hidden. Old enemies from the previous film, pimp and crime lord Peregus Malister (Robert Jayne) and Marek's former slave master Vagamal (Michael Flynn) plot together. Peregus sends female bounty hunters after her. They and angry fairies, orcs, swamp wights and a dragon make the life hard for the adventures. Marek's dark spells endanger the whole group's life and the team spirit is strained to the maximum. The only one who understands her is a rescued hunky dark elf Qole (Rocky Myers).
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| Thane, Teela, Marek, Dagen and Qole |
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| Vagamal |
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| Qole |
The first "Mythica" was a fresh swords & sorcery adventure and the sequel is continuing the trend. The first film introduced the characters. In the second movie the adventure starts to gain epic momentum and the storyline gets darker undertones. Can Marek control her corrupting powers or will she become a servant of evil? The scene with the fairies is goofy but somehow it balances the darkness of the second half. The characters get more complex now and Melanie Stone's character Marek is spunky but like all his friends she has her internal struggles. Thane is honourable but hot tempered and drunkard, Dagen is a devil-may-care ladies' man but struggles to be taken seriously and Teela is torn between duty and love.
The budget is low again but there is a impressive number of extras in the battle scenes, and the action scenes look well done (TV-movie level that is). The cinematography looks nice and the sceneries of Utah makes a good background for a fantasy setting. The self-irony of SyFy and Asylum productions is unknown and Arrowstorm crew and the actors take creating the fantasy world seriously.
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| Dragon with a touch of Dark Spore's powers |
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| Necromancer's temple could be from a cover of a metal cd |
What is nice also is that also the music has been put effort into. Here's Kristen Jensen's theme song "Tell Me" from the movie:
Rating: 
Good
Good
Starring: Melanie Stone, Adam Johnson, Jake Stormoen, Nicola Posener, Rocky Myers, Christopher Robin Miller, Kevin Sorbo, Natalie Devine Riskas, Robert Jayne, Matthew Mercer, Brogan Johnson, Ryan Palmer, James C. Morris, Kali Wright, Michael Flynn, Larissa Beck, Oscar Sanchez, Isaac Faller, Helena Peacock, Clare Niederpruem, Kynan Griffin, Nyk Fry, Griffin Bonacci, Dave Bresnahan, Andy Fernuik, Crystal Harris, Andrew L. McClain, Duke Warren
Director: Anne K. Black
Director: Anne K. Black
I recently watched this series and while I do personally agree that it is a decent film, I have a few issues with the second movie. Specifically the Marek and Qole part of it. Spoiler warning for anyone reading this who hasn't seen the films.
ReplyDeleteThe way Marek and Qole's relationship was handled felt wrong. When Marek first touched him and had those visions of them being intimate, it lead me to believe there would be more of a relationship. That they were a prediction of their future. It made them seem fated to be and yet we did not even get to have those moments come into reality. I could understand and accept Qole's outcome more if those scenes of them being intimate actually did happen.
When I try to rationalize the events that actually did happen it just doesn't make sense. Was that supposed to be Marek fantasizing about Qole?