The Hexer (2001)

Director: Marek Brodzki

Based on the extremely popular fantasy stories by Andrzej Sapkowski, this Polish movie follows a powerful, magical warrior named Geralt who battles villains and dragons and meets a wide variety of strange, interesting, and supernatural characters along the way
 

The Hexer is based on a series of books by Andrzej Sapkowski.  The Hexer (or Wiedzmin, or The Witcher), is a huge and massively popular series in it's home country of Poland.  Here in the states, it is not as well known although it does have a nice cult following and even a pretty successful PC game franchise. 

The movie itself is an amalgamation taken from a TV series (or mini-series) from Poland.  While this does not hamper the movie, it is fairly apparent in that sometimes it can appear to move from scene to scene without reason.

I greatly enjoyed this film and would love to see the whole series.  The effects are nothing to shake a stick at, but they're acceptable and as good as anything you'd find on a Syfy Saturday night movie. 

Michal Zebrowski is excellent as The Witcher and everything I'd expect the character to be and look like.  The entire cast does a fantastic job.  While there is little actual blood and gore in the fight scenes, they are well done and fairly suspenseful. 

I highly recommend anyone reading this to check out The Hexer.  I do not think you will be disappointed.  I only hope we will get to see the entire series or at least another movie eventually.

The Cast

Michal Zebrowski ... Geralt of Rivia

 

 

Agata Buzek ... Pavetta

 Grazyna Wolszczak ... Yennefer

 

Andrzej Chyra ... Borch Trzy Kawki

Zbigniew Zamachowski ... Jaskier

 

Maciej Kozlowski ... Falvick

Fire and Ice: The Dragon Chronicles (2008)

Director: Pitof


Ruled by King Augustin, Carpia is a peaceful kingdom in a world inhabited by dragons and knights. The land's serenity is unexpectedly shattered by a Fire Dragon that spreads almighty fear and death amongst the kingdom's innocent people.

Fire and Ice is one of those offerings from the Syfy channel.  Thankfully it's not one of those shitty "monster of the week" type movies.  This one is pretty good.  I admit, much of my love is for for Amy Acker, not necessarily the movie itself.  Many of you will remember her fom Angel.  Always a favorite of mine.

And yes, that is the one and only John Rhys-Davies, our lovable dwarf once again in a fantasy movie.  He pretty much phones it in here, as expected, but he's good even when he does.

 

The effects are not spectacular here being a TV movie, but they are not bad at all.  The dragons look pretty cool and unique.  However I still prefer my dragons with arms and legs.

 

I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to my audience here.  It's got your normal "rogue with a heart of gold" some cool effects and a cutie in Acker.  There's not alot in the way of cool combat, but there is some.  I say check it out for a nice Saturday afternoon watch.

 

The Cast

Tom Wisdom ... Gabriel

Amy Acker ... Princess Luisa

 

John Rhys-Davies ... Sangimel

Cabral Ibacka ... Knight Pontiero

 

Arnold Vosloo ... King Augustin

 

Razvan Vasilescu ... Paxian Ru

Amazons (1986)

Director: Alejandro Sessa

An epic from the dark ages about the legendary lost tribe of warrior women! The girls fly into danger, come up against fierce tribes, fall prey to sorcery, put to rest a family rivalry of centuries past and battle to victory!

The summary I found above makes this movie sound completely awesome.  While I enjoyed the movie, I wouldn't quite go that far.  There's a small story going on here, but nothing spectacular in the least.  Basically, this is an attempt to do Conan (As many of these movies from the 80s tried to do), complete with the chopped head of the baddie at the end of the movie.

If you're reading this blog, then you are probably similar to me in which you enjoy the campy fantasy movies of the 80s.  This one shouldn't disapoint.  This is no Deathstalker, but it serves.  There's a nice amount of nudity to be had.  While the fights are pretty dreadful, there's enough of them to keep your interest.

All in all, I'd say if you enjoy these movies for whatever reason, and haven't seen this one, it's worth checking out.  It's not the best, but not the worst.

The Cast

 

Ty Randolph ... Dyala

 Penelope Reed ... Tashi 

Danitza Kingsley ... Tshingi

 

 Fabiana Smith ... Lioness

Joseph Whipp ... Kalungo

Roar (TV-1997)

Created by:  Shaun Cassidy and Ron Koslow

Conor is the orphaned heir of one of the many tribal leaders of hopelessly divided Hibernia (ancient Ireland). With his faithful but unenthusiastic servant and protector Fergus he wanders trough the island, fighting injustice and aspiring to unite the druidic, yet internecine Celts in order to free the country from Roman rule. Most dangers and opponents he faces are largely or completely mythical, the most remarkable being Longinus, the eternally cursed but immortal, cruel and vindictive Roman centurion at Christ's crucifixion who forges evil alliances.

Roar was a tv series from 1997 starring a relatively unknown Heath Ledger.  The obvious comparisons to Braveheart abound here.  I would say take Braveheart, add in some Robin Hood, with a dash of Hercules, the Legendary Journeys.  I enjoyed the series while it lasted.  It took a pretty serious tone and was not campy.  I would have liked to see the series continue beyond it's 13 episodes.

While this is a historical show, there was a very slight amount of magic involved, therefore this is definitely fantasy.  The action was good for its time, and the show kept a nice pace.

I would definitely recommend checking out the dvds for those who have never seen the show.

 Heath Ledger ...  Connor

John Saint Ryan ... Fergus

Vera Farmiga ... Caitlin

Alonzo Greer ... Tully

Sebastian Roché ... Longinus

Lisa Zane ... Queen Diana