Kingdom of Gladiators (2011)

Director: Stefano Milla
Writers: Stefano Milla, Marco Viola




A king makes a pact with an ancient demon and after years of ruling his kingdom in peace, the demon has come to collect. Now a group of rival gladiators must fight for the survival of the kingdom.

Kingdom of Gladiators is a title that has been used before.  I tend to like gladiator movies (Spartacus, Gladiator, etc.) so I was happy to find another new one I could sink my teeth into.

Title: 7

The plot is pretty simple, and (again) one you would find in a typical D&D scenario.  King makes a pact with a demon who comes to collect.  Adventurers have to go on a quest to defeat the demon, yada yada yada.  It was not poorly done.  The camera work on this movie is actually pretty good.  It was able to hide the fact that the fight scenes are pretty poor.  Combinations of slow motion and camera shakes are pretty good at hiding poor action.  

Plot:  5

There really isn't a lot of blood and gore in this movie considering the amount of killing.  Most of the "blood" doesn't make it's appearance until the "final blow".  I thought some of the death scenes were pretty good.  I'm not a big fan of CG blood, but it wasn't too terrible here.

Death Scenes: 5

So far you're probably thinking you should check this movie out.  I took on the ratings scale of Kevin Bachelder's Saturday B Movie Cast which can make the movie sound pretty good based on the first few ratings.  But let me tell you, this isn't a very good movie at all.  I've seen worse, but this is pretty bad.  I'd have to say the main reason (besides the sets and the costumes which look very LARPy) is the acting.  There is no stand out here to speak of.  It's all pretty terrible.

Acting: 3

There's isn't a lot of special effects to speak of.  (If you don't count CG blood). Just some light effects to depict some magic.  They aren't poorly done, and in fact I give them some props for not trying too much.

Special Effects: 4

The movie takes itself pretty seriously with no amount of humor or cheese

Cheese level: NA

There is no nudity here.  There is some scantily clad-ness, but definitely nothing that I want to look at for too long....

Eye Candy: 1

Rewatchability: 1

Verdict: Skip It

Cast

Leroy Kincaid ... Kayne

Matt Polinsky ... Gunnar

Annie Social ... Teela

Bryan Murphy ... King Wolfkahn

Gerard Murphy ... Herald

Maurizio Corigliano ... Har

Sharon Fryer

Suzi Lorraine ... Hel

Silvia Musso

Vito Galetta

Dragon (II) (2006)

Director: Leigh Scott

Writers: Leigh Scott, Eliza Swenson

In a desperate attempt to save her kingdom from an advancing army of dark elves, Princess Vanir must traverse the haunted forest of Sidhe. With the help of loyal adventurers Cador and Artemir, they encounter the army of elves, a mysterious sorceress, and the powerful dragon that stands in their way. Bring the Dragon into your home from December 12th at Blockbuster and Hollywood Video... and let the adventure begin!

This is a movie called Dragon.  While, there is a dragon in the movie, and the characters are looking to kill it, don't you think a more descriptive title would be better?  Or at least one that separates it from all the other movies out there named "Dragon".

Title: 3

The story itself is one that you have probably played in one of your D&D campaigns.  Which wouldn't be bad if this movie was not so boring.  There is a lot of talking here with little action overall.  The action scenes are pretty poor as well.  There is no blood or gore, this is a family-friendly movie.

Plot: 4

Death Scenes: 3

The acting is definitely nothing to write home about.  There are some awful moments, Shaky accents, and little range presented here.  If I were to pick some stand-out, Matthew Wolf and Eliza Swenson are not half bad.

Acting: 4

There are not a lot of special effects, but the ones that are here are pretty terrible.  The dragon is one that you have seen before on many Syfy originals, which means awful.

Special Effects: 2

I can't even add a "it's so bad it's good" title to this.  It's just bad.  The movie take's itself very seriously and I can't help but think it would have been better served with a little comedy or cheese.

Cheese level: 1

If there's any upside at all it would be Eliza Swenson who is pretty damn hot.  As I said, however, this is pretty family-friendly and there is no skin to be had.  There's barely even a bare shoulder.  Eliza is pleasant to look at, skin or no.

Eye Candy: 7

Rewatchability: 1

Verdict: Skip it

Cast

Amelia Jackson-Gray ... Princess Alora Vanir

Jon-Paul Gates ... Lord Artemir

Matthew Wolf ... Sir Cador Bain

Jeff Denton ... Gareth Morholt

Jason DeParis ... Sogomo

Rachel Haines ... Naga

Eliza Swenson ... Freyja

Jessica Bork ... Damara