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Reviews
Best Defense (1984)
Interesting concept, poorly executed.
An ironic aspect of this otherwise indigestible flop is that the final concept, although created as a desperate, expos facto attempt to inject life into the film, might have actually worked, had it been in the plan from the beginning.
Although the future plot line (or present, according to how you wish to perceive it) involving Murphy was filmed later, the concept of one plot line's actions having a direct result on another in the future could have been interesting. All it needed was a script, production values, creative foresight and inspired performances by the actors. This film, unfortunately, had none of the above.
Moore is convinced that a device slated to be installed on a tank is defective in its design, and must try to fix it before it's built and put into use. Two years in the future, sure enough, Murphy is driving a tank which uses this very device. Will Moore improve the design in time to save Murphy's life? Well, it's little confusing to flash back and forth between these plot lines, but they do manage to culminate into a semi-climactic moment, but much too late to save the viewer from mindless boredom.
Dungeons & Dragons (2000)
Painfully mediocre..
This film is a truly pathetic attempt to create a film franchise from a successful idea. To bring a game spanning such a wide spectrum as "Dungeons & Dragons" to the big screen was no doubt like slaying a dragon, but this time the dragon won.
The plot centers around a sinister wizard (Irons) who seeks to control the dragons, an empress (Birch) who represents the forces of good (although her facial expression remains entirely neutral throughout) and a thief (Whalen) who gets caught in the middle. Irons and Birch are absolute polar opposites in acting styles in this film. Irons is over-the-top with mindless shouting and overacting, while Birch is nearly catatonic in every scene. It's a shame that these two fine actors couldn't breathe enough life into this shameful flick. On a side note, Irons sports a neatly trimmed 20th century hairstyle which appears ridiculously out of place on a medievil sorcerer.
This film, intended to be the first of a series, had the simple job of developing the characters in preparation for this would-be mega-franchise. Unfortunately, it didn't work, as I simply didn't care about any of them. They did make a fair attempt to play upon actual recognizable elements of the game, hoping to keep the interest of the D&D players as least, but even the somewhat impressive eye candy was less than captivating.
Any number of films of this genre that followed the inception and ensuing popularity of the role-playing game could bear the name "Dungeons & Dragons" with considerable merit, including "Dragonslayer" and "Ladyhawke". And, of course, since the game derived much of its content from the works of Tolkien, the "Dungeons & Dragons" movie pales in comparison to "The Fellowship of the Ring".