Why the sword and dragon movie died.

Rating: 1/10 (27 December 2001)

This movie is summed up best by its "large" battle scene. The opposing army slowly plods up to the the city, mechanically throw their torches in order to burn the village down, and then, surprise, is confronted by a rather ragtag assembly of spikes at the gate that somehow make the opposing army actually stop. Funny thing is though just before Banderas jumped OVER the spikes on a horse (real good defense guys) and really, the spikes have the sharpness of a Crayola marker. Of course, the defenders of the city rejoice at this, say a couple witty lines, some bit charactdrs die, they knock off some of the weirdo opposing army, and everyone goes home happy.
Everything feels very mechanical. The actors just seem to be going through the motions, the script is standard fantasy fare, and evidently the director decided to just keep everything zoomed in, so you could admire the actors grizzly faces. I honestly don't think there is a scene where any of the actors DON'T take up all the screen.
Dreadful, dreadful movie.