Siegfried (Benno Fürmann), the orphaned son of a king, is raised by a blacksmith (Max von Sydow) and taught to make great swords. He meets and defeats Brunhild, the queen of Iceland (Kristanna Løken), who proclaims her love for him. While she waits for him, he journeys to Burgund, where he slays a dragon, takes its cursed gold, befriends king Gunther (Samuel West), and swallows a magic potion that causes him to fall in love with Princess Kriemhild (Alicia Witt). With Gunther seeking Brunhild for his wife, and the king’s advisor, Hagen (Julian Sands), secretly a half dwarf obsessed with the gold, tragedy seems inevitable.
The Ring saga is one of the great folk stories of western civilization. I was introduced to it through the symphonic works of Wagner. Anything that inspired The Ride of the Valkyries and Siegfried’s Funeral March had to be pretty good, right? So I watched performances of all four of Wagner’s Ring operas, which were very, very long. (Oh, so very long.) But the basic plot, with magical Rhinemaidens, dwarves, dragons, and sword-wielding heroes still sounded exciting, so I read translations of the Norse Eddas and Volsunga Saga, as well as a prose version of Wagner’s work. Some of these were quite good. Others, not so much. The deciding factor seemed to be length. Shorter was better. Often, myths are best when told around a fire on a cold night, as they were centuries ago. In that form, the powers of the Gods and the vastness of the story overshadow the nonexistent depth of the characters and their implausible choices.
Unfortunately, Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King is not a short, succinct rendition. It is a ponderous take on the legend, that tells a bare bones version, and then wastes time in numerous close ups of characters gazing at nothing in particular. These are additionally painful because the actors have no idea what they are supposed to be thinking or what this film is about, and so have vacant, slack-jawed countenances. Benno Fürmann is atrocious in the lead. He may be a rising star in his native Germany, but he needs several more years of training in English (particularly, how to make his expressions even remotely reflect the words he is saying) before he’s ready for sidekick roles. The only good thing I can say about his costar, Kristanna Løken, is that she’s better than he is. Her breakout role was as the Terminatrix in Terminator 3 and she gives ample proof here that emotionless machine was the perfect part for her talents. Julian Sands, wearing dark hair and a goatee, at least has the grace to look like he belongs in a mythic fantasy. Only Alicia Witt comes off as human and injects some real emotion into the film.
For a limited release movie that went straight to DVD in a majority of countries, it has an adequate budget. However, the money was not spent on hiring extras. Burgund is a nearly empty country. The huge castle might contain twenty people. Great epics should involve more than the number of folks needed for a three table bridge game.
The production isn’t a complete failure. The swordplay is remarkably good and most of the fights are staged to please Swashbuckling fans (strange that the combat should be so quick when everything else is so slow). The dragon looks deadly and has more emotional range than the humans. Siegfried’s battle with the giant lizard is the high point of the film, and had me thinking that this might turn out to be something worth my time. Oh well.
The picture has been renamed in almost every country. How it was saddled with Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King in the U.S. is a mystery. In Germany, it goes by a name that actually has some connection to the myths, Die Nibelungen. It is The Sword of Xanten in Britain where it was given a theatrical release, and The Curse of the Ring in South Africa.