Tales of an Ancient Empire (2010)

This is a not as bad a movie as many people think. It is not a blockbuster nor an award winner. That said, the filmmaker does an excellent job of putting together a compelling story with a cast of characters, well performed I might add, that will keep you watching. However, it seems to end unexpectedly. My only hope is that a sequel will come along one day to finish the tale. I came across this movie as a Kevin Sorbo fan. He does Sci-Fi and Fantasy well and whenever I stumble across another movie with Sorbo in the cast, I give it a chance. His performance was typical of his style with action and humor rolled into the character. I found it to be a job well done on his part. The leading ladies in the film, and there are quite a few, provided quality performances along side Mr. Sorbo. The director's vision of vampires, however, was a little off in my opinion. There are many takes on the vampire tale and this one uses a variety of sources to create their creatures of the night... or day. Maybe I'm too wrapped up in the Universal Pictures version of the vampire to keep an open mind about those taking a different route with the film. The special effects were not bad for a movie that boasts a mere 1,000,000 dollar budget. The low cost may be a reason why the film seemed to end abruptly. In short, if you are looking for a decent movie, give it a try but don't expect too much. Go in understanding it is a low budget fantasy/sci-fi/monster flick that is meant to entertain. I hope that one day the writer and director get an opportunity to at least close out the story.

The problem here is the art... seriously... as in it takes itself seriously. Sorbo and Pare seem to understand what the audience wanted from their performances, and they seemed to understand what sort of movie they were in. The director, however, had an artistic vision for a sequel to a B grade Sword and Sorcery movie and that just doesn't worm. It takes itself far too seriously for what it is. And that takes away from the enjoyment of the film as a whole. At the end of the day, some of the cast understood that they needed to approach the film slightly tongue-in-cheek, slightly self aware of that they were making, but the director didn't. And the result was that everything that made the first film fun... not good, but FUN, was lost in an attempt to make the second film artistic and pretentious.