Review of Dragonslayer (1981) by Peter G — 01 Nov 2009

Well, this may be a change of pace for me with my movie viewing, but Dragonslayer is honestly not that bad of a movie.

The only real bad (which can definitely sink it for some) is the plot line. Not much gets explained in the beginning and the revelation at the end just feels like a cop out. Why couldn't you simply tell us, "My master cannot make this journey."?

Anyway, the movie begins with a group of travelers knocking on a castle door in search of some mystical wizard (played by Ian McDiarmid). He apparently has the ability to slay a dragon, one that has been plaguing a town for many years.

After he agrees to come, some asshole guard of the king knocks on the door and challenges the wizard to a test, one that would prove his worth. The wizard's apprentice, Galen (Peter MacNicol), knows something is up and tries to stop this guard, but the wizard shuts him out and proceeds to get killed.

Soon after his death, Galen discovers that the amulet of the wizard grants him powers, making him have all of the abilities of the wizard. With this amulet in hand, Galen goes with the travelers to slay the dragon.

Yeah, that certainly can be confusing and I mostly pieced this together myself, but the movie never really just explicitly says any of what I mentioned. Galen isn't even named until an hour into the film. The king's guard is never given motive to be a villain. There's a plot twist involving one of the traveler's being a woman, but you can obviously tell by looking at her face.

This movie just fails in the plot department. It may have an epic scale and some old-timey like feel to it, but it's really hard to make sense of. You know what is going on, but you also have no clue, it's an awkward sensation. There are some plot inconsistencies towards the end, but there is no sense in trying to ruin that.

What does work, amazingly so, is the cinematography. Everything was filmed on location in Scotland and London, so the scenery is just breath taking. I was compelled to sit through the movie simply to see how the next scene would out-do the last.

Things like fog rolling in during the morning in the forest, a dark and creepy bog, a gigantic mountain and some lush fields in the village that honestly made me think the DVD was high-definition.

I honestly do not remember a single musical piece in the movie, though. That is definitely a travesty as music could have helped escalate the scenery to amazing heights. The acting isn't bad, though. Peter MacNicol does fairly well and so does Ian McDiarmid, granted he only has about 6 minutes of screen time. The writing is really cheesy, though, so it's hard to get behind what anyone is saying.

The special effects in this film are also pretty neat. Like the color changing fire, the actual dragon and one spectacular scene at the end that I will not spoil (it's in the dragon's lair). I really would like to know the budget of this film, it had to be in the 10's of millions.

So in the end, Dragonslayer is good, but not great. It has moments, but the awkward plot and bad writing sort of drag it down. If only the movie were re-cut or just simply explained more, than I could recommend better. But check it out if you're in the mood for an 80's adventure movie.