beaver1024
First Post
For a brief and slightly inaccurate teaser please refer to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406728/plotsummary.
For the record, I thought the first D&D movie was an insult to D&D fans everywhere and so atrocious it is was at times hilariously funny. If my expectations of D&D2 was any lower, it would be greeting Asmodeous in the Nine Hells. I was thus pleasantly suprised by the quality of D&D 2.
The story line and the general setting is light years ahead of the first D&D movie. It basically makes sense and follows a logical and sensible progression from exposition, through to the climax and denouement. It actually creates some measure of suspense, tension and excitement in the viewer. Its quality may not approach other movies like "The Island" or "Batman Returns" but it far surpases movies like "SWAT", "Flight of the Phoenix" and "Assault on precinct 13". It does contain major plot holes, the most obvious being right at the start when Melora says "No one in Ishmir can do it [divine magic]" but she's holding a divine scroll bought from a temple of Obad Hai. However considering that the first D&D movie didn't even really have a cohesive plot I do not consider this that bad.
There is a lot of references to the game we play in the story from reference to Obad Hai to the use of magic items and spells. My favourite is their implementation of the Ring of Ram. Very nice.
The characters, although wooden at times, were still likeable and I felt they added to the story rather than detracted from it. Unlike the first D&D movie where the characters and the acting was so bad, I thought I was watching a bad sitcom. The characters blended in acceptably with the story and with each other. I felt there was some measure of pathos with the characters as you watch their hurts and pains. I actually did wince as the elf wizard had a teleport error and part of her arm got buried in a wall.
The special effects were very very good. The only complaint I had was that the special effects concentrated a lot on the arcane magic component of D&D. They had a magic sword but it didn't do much except glow a bit. Seeing the cleric of Obad Hai Flame Strike a frost dragon is very cool.
In summary, compared to the first D&D movie: wow.
For the record, I thought the first D&D movie was an insult to D&D fans everywhere and so atrocious it is was at times hilariously funny. If my expectations of D&D2 was any lower, it would be greeting Asmodeous in the Nine Hells. I was thus pleasantly suprised by the quality of D&D 2.
The story line and the general setting is light years ahead of the first D&D movie. It basically makes sense and follows a logical and sensible progression from exposition, through to the climax and denouement. It actually creates some measure of suspense, tension and excitement in the viewer. Its quality may not approach other movies like "The Island" or "Batman Returns" but it far surpases movies like "SWAT", "Flight of the Phoenix" and "Assault on precinct 13". It does contain major plot holes, the most obvious being right at the start when Melora says "No one in Ishmir can do it [divine magic]" but she's holding a divine scroll bought from a temple of Obad Hai. However considering that the first D&D movie didn't even really have a cohesive plot I do not consider this that bad.
There is a lot of references to the game we play in the story from reference to Obad Hai to the use of magic items and spells. My favourite is their implementation of the Ring of Ram. Very nice.
The characters, although wooden at times, were still likeable and I felt they added to the story rather than detracted from it. Unlike the first D&D movie where the characters and the acting was so bad, I thought I was watching a bad sitcom. The characters blended in acceptably with the story and with each other. I felt there was some measure of pathos with the characters as you watch their hurts and pains. I actually did wince as the elf wizard had a teleport error and part of her arm got buried in a wall.
The special effects were very very good. The only complaint I had was that the special effects concentrated a lot on the arcane magic component of D&D. They had a magic sword but it didn't do much except glow a bit. Seeing the cleric of Obad Hai Flame Strike a frost dragon is very cool.
In summary, compared to the first D&D movie: wow.
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