Age of the Dragons (2011)

Absolutely the worst movie.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I was actually sort of intrigued if somewhat dubious, but no matter how bad I thought it could've gone, I honestly was not expecting it to be this bad, almost Dungeons & Dragons bad. I am not going to detail how far it deviates from Moby Dick, you can tell from the plot summary it is going to, and I am going to judge Age of the Dragons on its own merits. Age of the Dragons sadly doesn't have many good merits, if any at all. The landscapes and scenery are reasonably good in scale but dully lit, lacking a true sense of wonder. The editing is choppy, while the dragon effects are not bad as such but nothing to be thrilled about either as the dragons themselves actually aren't used very well at all. The music lacks sparkle and feels sluggish, but it was the story, characters and especially the script that sank Age of the Dragons further. The characters are more irritating than engaging and have resorted to fantasy clichés rather than the complex characters of the original story. The story is slow and predictable, with the action scenes the anti-thesis of thrilling and the fantasy elements lacking imagination. The script is terrible, one of the worst scripts of any film recently, consisting of corny, stilted dialogue and just very humourless and stiff in tone. The acting fares little better, the main female is a small bright spot because she is hot and her acting doesn't rely too much on it. Vinnie Jones however is very bland, while Danny Glover, other than the premise the main selling-point of me seeing Age of the Dragons in the first place, chews the scenery to pieces and in the end it was painful to watch him. Overall, a right medieval muddle, humourless, unimaginative, predictable, clichéd and dull, everything a fantasy/adventure movie should not be. 1/10 Bethany Cox

I have to mention right off that if your walking into this movie expecting a gloriously fanciful and faithful re-telling of Moby Dick, don't be surprised when it disappoints you. Now, if you walked into it expecting a somewhat Moby Dick themed dragon movie, you'll probably be better off. I, personally, had never heard of it before I watched it so I didn't have any expectations at all and I found the whole Moby Dick thing to be an amusing framing device, a fun little side note, in a fairly decent dragon movie. The acting isn't too great but it won't make you rip your eyes out and plug your ears with them, the costuming is pretty decent, and the effects are actually quite good. It's not a great masterpiece but it's a decently entertaining way to kill two hours. If you happen to be into dragons, it's one of the more decent movies that's worth having around to watch once in a while; it's not exactly 'Dragonheart' but it's not nearly as bad as 'Merlin and the War of the Dagons' either. Personally I got a bit of a giggle out of the idea of dragons using vitriol to produce fire (for those who didn't know, vitriol is an old name for sulfuric acid) and the design of the "ship" was pretty neat. All in all, I'm pretty sure the actors involved needed the paycheck more than anything else but it's not too bad and the dragons are pretty damn cool.

I had no idea it was based on Moby Dick nor did I care once I knew. The Dragon is beautifully rendered in CGI. The Acting is above what I have come to expect on my Satruday Night Sci-Fi, and the Directing wasn't bad either. I see a lot of people hating on it for ripping off Herman Melville OK but guess what I never read his work ever haha perhaps they should quit comparing things and appreciate them for what they are this is a fantasy film for home viewing and its quite entertaining. Lots of character development makes the movie a bit slow however overall not a bad pace production values are better than average for a film of this type and I'm sure it didn't have a very big budget. Danny Glover's performance is uneven at times over the top and at others not sufficient but he has less screen time than anyone else and Vinnie Jones really shines beyond that the rest of the actors do an adequate job overall I would watch this again if I was in the mood for a Dragon flick.

This movie is exactly as represented by its advertising and network of origin. It is a low-budget monster movie with a couple of easily recognizable actors, loosely adapted from the oblique theme of the novel, Moby Dick.I felt the film entertained me to the exact degree that I expected it to.To review by comparison, the script was equal with Star Wars Episode IV for use of stock dialog. The special effects were better than Dragonheart, but not as good as Reign of Fire. The acting was neck and neck with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The movie could have used more English actors, as their accent typically does most of acting for them; Michael Caine could play Frederick Douglas and somehow pull if off because people like the sound of his voice.