(This review may contain spoilers).
I can’t remember if I saw this movie at the cinema or not… but it’s one that I’ve owned for a while and one that I have enjoyed watching quite a bit.
I did think that the film could have done with being a bit longer. The main characters were well-defined (although Snails’ constant screeching did grate), but the more minor characters were lacking quite a bit.
I really liked Ridley as a character and it was good to see his interactions with both Snails and Marina. It was disappointing that I didn’t get the chance to see more of his history… or how he and Snails had become friends. Or even why he had such a strong dislike for mages.
I felt that this movie followed the basic fantasy plot, where a group of heroes (from different races) have to go on a quest. I did enjoy seeing the banter between them and I did care about the characters… even Snails. It was sweet how he developed a crush on Norda, who I liked due to her being a strong female.
Despite this being a fantasy world, I was disappointed not to see too many fantasy creatures. There were a few, but not quite as many as I was expecting.
There were some good, humorous lines in this movie. And the fantasy elements themselves were pretty cool. The good characters did seem to be quite naive, though… and I also felt that, although the Empress’ goal was admirable, there wasn’t really enough about it or her to have it make much sense or be a believable element. Plus, there’s a scene where the Empress’ head looks massive and I found that hard to take seriously.
I did enjoy seeing Ridley and Marina together and there were some nice fighting scenes in this. There were also quite a few actors I recognised and I enjoyed seeing them in this movie.
This isn’t one of the best movies. There are some nice fantasy sequences and some pretty good music. But I felt too much was left unfinished and the world wasn’t expanded as much as it could have been. I think this would have worked better as a mini-series, or even just a television series.
Ink of Blood 