Pretty Good

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Released to TV in 2004 at 184 minutes and originally titled "Curse of the Ring" or "Ring of the Nibelungs," "Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King" runs 132 minutes on the shortened DVD, meaning its cut by 48 minutes. This is an ancient European tale going back 700-1500 years about a Scandinavian child of noble birth who is reared anonymously by a noble blacksmith (Max Von Sydow) and names him Eric (Benno Fürmann). Eric miraculously meets and falls in love with the Queen of Iceland (Kristanna Loken) before slaying a dragon and becoming a king. Unfortunately, he can't marry his first love because a rival king and blood brother (Samuel West) manipulates him into marrying his beautiful sister (Alicia Witt). O what a tangled web we weave when at first we practice to deceive! For a movie that originally aired on Sci-Fi (now SyFy), this is an impressive film. The casting, locations (South Africa), CGI, score and numerous sword-fighting scenes are all top-notch, especially for a TV movie, which explains that it was released theatrically in some areas. Although this is a fantasy sword & sorcery flick the tone is serious and realistic beyond the magical elements. Witt is likable and winsome while Loken is stunning and tough in a warrioress sense. Fürmann is solid as the main protagonist, Eric/Siegfried, having the requisite noble looks. His fight with the dragon is outstanding and the creature looks formidable and frightening, to say the least.The story struck me as very unique, but only moderately interesting. It could've been more compelling IMHO but, then again, I've only seen the shortened version. The cut scenes include: (1.) the Saxons at the smithy, (2.) Siegfried bringing the Dragon carcass back to Burgund, (3.) the lady saying she would be a pagan again just for tonight, and (4.) Kriemhild confessing her love for Siegfried (Eric) to Hagen, the house villain, played by Julian Sands. It's hard to believe that peripheral scenes like these could turn the movie into a captivating powerhouse, but I could be wrong. Nevertheless, the positives outweigh the negatives and this is a worth seeing if you have a taste for sword & sorcery.GRADE: B

This is an excellent movie. It has another name too. Dark Kingdom: Dragon King. And If you are the type of guy who enjoys Lord of the ring type movies with sword fight and magic. You will love it. The story line is so well narrated with twist and turn. The acting is very well done in the movie. Loved k Loken. She has done her role superbly. The movie has a decent pace and does not let one feel bored or dragged into it. AS i said, you will love if if you enjoys time period movies. In search of good movie, i started watching movies from different countries and bump to this one. The movie has medieval touch. It If n e one knows similar movie to this one, please reply.

I've seen this film twice by now with two years in between and I really thought that my opinion about this film would change, after seeing it the second time but fortunately it hasn't. I've read some books since the last time about this Saga and I thought this film picked quite the essences of the story. In fact: every interesting and important detail was mentioned, those who didn't read the books, they will still understand the film very easy because everything is explained and last but not least: The Saga of the Nibelungs provide here the Story and as I said, most of it is shown in the film. So the Storyline is absolutely according with many books and therefor OK. To the characters: Everyone has done his job quite well...but I would have picked another Man for the role of Gunther, King of Burgund and maybe took also another sister, Kriemhild of Burgund...I didn't like them, not because of their acting, but because I didn't like their faces, but that's to everyone himself to decide. And of course, what enriches this film absolutely is the gorgeous Kristanna Loken with his role as Queen Brunhild...I tell you, she's in her coldness as Queen of Iceland such a beautiful person, i wanted her in every scene :)Enjoy it, 9/10!

Since I was a child and being partially of Northern European descent p and being a descendant of a few ancestors who were into mythology and lite occult practices (astrology,numerology,fortune telling,Druidism-Wiccan)I have always loved almost anything mythological. I really appreciated this version of the Nibelungied. This combines the mythological treatments of both the Scandinavian and Germanic versions of the myth. The story is incomplete.Kriemhilde (aka Chriemhild)is somewhat based on the historical Princess Ildico who was forced to marry Attila the Hun who in reality hated Attila for killing her family and may have poisoned him on the dreaded wedding night.In the mythological version she marries Etzel, King of the Huns (based on Attila the Hun)so she could have vengeance against her brothers and other relatives for the murder of her beloved husband Siegfried (aka Sigurd). In this version of the story Brunhilde (aka Brynhild) takes vengeance on Hagen and his men alone. What this version did get right was the love potion Kriemhilde used on Siegfried to love her and forget about his one true love Brunhilde (Brynhild)The Queen (In some of the myths she is no Queen but a Valkyrie a Norse equivalent to a Greco-Roman Amazon and the daughter of the God Wotan (Odin) and the Earth Goddess Erda (Nertha).The second thing correct is the shapeshifting of Siegfied to appear as Gunther (Gunter).The suicide of Brunhilde on Siegfried's death. I recommend this miniseries for anyone who is interested in Germano-Norse mythology and classical literature.