Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God

Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God
DVD cover for the film
Directed by	Gerry Lively
Written by	Robert Kimmel Brian Rudnick
Starring	Mark Dymond Clemency Burton-Hill Bruce Payne Ellie Chidzey
Music by	David Julyan
Cinematography	Igor Meglic
Editing by	Rodney Holland
Distributed by	Sci Fi Pictures original films Warner Home Video (DVD)
Release date(s)	US October 8, 2005
Running time	105 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$12,000,000 USD

Dungeons and Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God is a 2005 fantasy film directed by Gerry Lively. It is a made-for-TV sequel of sorts to the 2000 film Dungeons & Dragons, which in turn was based on the popular role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (or D&D). The only returning actor is Bruce Payne reprising his role as the evil Damodar. The film was released in theaters in Europe and some parts of North America, and released on DVD on February 7, 2006.

Story

Approximately one hundred years after the events of the first film, Damodar (Bruce Payne) has survived his defeat by Ridley Freeborn, having been cursed by his former master, Profion, to walk the earth as an undead entity. Driven insane by the pain of the curse, he seeks revenge against the kingdom of Izmir, and the descendants of those who defeated him.

After years of searching, he locates the Orb of Faluzure, an ancient artifact linked to the power of Faluzure, a dragon god imprisoned under Izmir's mountains. With the Orb's power, he heals himself of the curse, and prepares to awaken the dragon to destroy Izmir.

Bruce Payne as Damodar and Aurimas Meliesius as Klaxx the lich.

Lord Berek (Mark Dymond), a fighter and former captain of the king's guard, now a bored and unsatisfied lord of the King, and Melora (Clemency Burton-Hill), his wife, a "gifted" young mage, investigate reports of poison gas emanating from Izmir's caves and find the still-slumbering dragon. Researching the threat in Izmir's library, Melora excitedly reports to Oberon (Roy Marsden), the head of the Mages' Council, that Faluzure was imprisoned three thousand years ago by a powerful ancient civilization called the Turanians, who also created the Orb. While trying to locate the Orb through magic, Melora is inadvertently cursed by the much-more powerful Damodar, and begins dying slowly.

She hides her illness from Berek, who is appointed by the King to assemble a party of adventurers; small enough to infiltrate Damodar's lair undetected, but strong enough to face their enemies: Lux (Ellie Chidzey), a female barbarian, Dorian (Steven Elder), a male Cleric of Obad-Hai, Ormaline (Lucy Gaskell), a female elven wizard, and Nim (Tim Stern) a master thief.

The party sets out to locate Damodar's lair, while Oberon and the other mages try to decipher the tomes of Turanian magic in their library, to find a way to defeat the dragon.

While traveling through a haunted forest, Berek's party catches the attention of the powerful lich Klaxx the Maligned, who offers his services to Damodar. Damodar does not trust him, but is confident that the Orb makes him more powerful than Klaxx.

After making through several obstacles and riddles, losing Dorian in the process, Berek's party finds its way to Damodar's castle. Confronting him, Berek manages to take advantage of his overconfidence and steal the Orb, though Ormaline and Nim are badly wounded before the wizard teleports them back to Obad-Hai. While Ormaline and Nim are treated by the clerics, Berek rides back to Izmir, Lux staying behind to delay demons summoned by Damodar.

Using his shape-changing abilities, Klaxx infiltrates Izmir's castle, kills Oberon in his bath, and assumes his shape. When Berek returns with the Orb, Melora uses it to unlock a vault discovered beneath the castle, where the Turanians hid the secrets of their magic. However, at that moment, Klaxx reveals himself, stealing the Orb back and killing the King, the new captain of the guard, and many of the castle's inhabitants, before returning the Orb to Damodar. The dragon awakens and destroys the Orb, regaining its full power.

While Berek rides in pursuit, Melora, who is near death, manages to decipher the Turanians' secret and rally the remaining mages in a magical attack that defeats the dragon, and also frees her from the curse.

Berek and Lux meet up and confront Damodar, who no longer has the Orb's power at his disposal; Klaxx, who has no interest in helping Damodar any further, disappears with a laugh.

In the aftermath, Izmir is rebuilt, with Berek immersed in his ministerial duties, and Melora appointed as the new head of the Council of Mages. Lux, Ormaline and Nim are shown to have fully recovered from their wounds.

Damodar is last seen being imprisoned in a dark dungeon beneath Izmir, but smiling to himself as if he is fully prepared to wait another hundred years to have his revenge.

D&D Canon

Unlike the first movie, which could be considered medium-budget, this is a low-budget production with a cast of relative newcomers (with the exception of Bruce Payne as Damodar). Also unlike the first movie, many details from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game have been included. The professions of the five adventurers are accurately depicted and they work together, each utilizing their individual strengths. The equipment of the adventurers are items which avid gamers will probably recognize (e.g. gem of true seeing, flask of purple worm acid, vorpal sword, ring of the ram, staff of lightning, mace of thunder, etc...). The spells cast by wizards are accurate renditions of the ones from the roleplaying game, namely that spells are not cast at will, but must first be prepared and in limited amounts.

The villains have also been designed closely to the D&D canon. As part of the bestiary, one can find an aggressive white dragon, darkmantles, spectres, magmins, lizardfolk (one can be seen restoring Damodar's arm), and a lich. Special mention must be given to Klaxx the Maligned (the lich), who is behaving how a lich should according to common D&D behavior—staying close to the action for a potential piece of power or knowledge to grab, but not exactly taking any risk. There were also dead drow hanging from the ceiling and whose blood was used for Damodar's "dinner". Juiblex was also mentioned, but the demon lord did not actually appear in the film.

There are also a number of references to classic D&D modules (The Ghost Tower of Inverness, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, etc.) in the film.

Of special note is the commentary track which is composed of "Lidda," "Krusk," and "Jozan" (iconic characters from the third edition D&D ruleset) quipping upon the action on the screen.

From quick glimpses in the DVD's Interview with Gary Gygax, the heroes are shown to have the following stats in the D&D game:

Berek	Lawful Good male human fighter 7
Lux	Chaotic Good female human barbarian 7
Nim	Chaotic Good male human rogue 7
Dorian	Neutral male human cleric 7 of Obad-Hai
Ormaline	Neutral female elf wizard 9
Melora	Neutral Good female human cleric 1 of Obad-Hai/wizard 4

Reception

As of September 2009, Wrath of the Dragon God has an IMDB score of 4.9 out of 10, considerably higher than that of the original film. Professional reviews, however, have called the film disappointing. IGN scored it 3 out of 10^[1], stating that only hardcore D&D fans should check it out, though mostly due to references to the game itself. Monsters and Critics awarded it 2 out of 5, stating, "If Lord of the Rings showed us how the fantasy genre can be done right, Dungeons and Dragons - Wrath of the Dragon God shows us how it can be done horribly wrong."^[2] One reviewer stated that Bruce Payne's 'performance is still the highlight of this one'.^[3] Another reviewer stated that Bruce Payne 'steals the show.'^[4]

Sequel

Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness was announced in 2011 and is set for release in late 2011.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ http://uk.dvd.ign.com/articles/695/695446p1.html
2. ^ http://www.monstersandcritics.com/dvd/reviews/article_1096707.php
3. ^ http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11959.phtml
4. ^ http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/3/3/blu-ray-review-dungeons-and-dragons-2-movie-collection.html

External links

• Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God at the Internet Movie Database
• Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God at AllRovi
• Wrath of the Dragon God Interview at Sorcerer's Place