Michael Ledo
John Norton (Rusty Joiner) is not named John Carter because that would be too obvious. He buys an isolated farm and is an ex-soldier. The farm is located near a cave that is a portal to "The Nine Worlds." He has reluctantly obtained the position of "The Sentinel" a guardian of the portal between worlds. He is aided by a blind Native American.He is also tasked in saving the Elf Princess (Masiela Lusha) from an acting career and the hordes of Orcs who desire to capture her for sacrifice, a sacrifice that would open the portals and allow the Orcs to conquer other worlds with their bows and swords. Seriously. Oh yes they also have one Nazgul.The Orcs looked and grunted convincingly. The fire was all CG, apparently fire insurance is hard to come by. The storyline, as you can tell, wasn't great and at one point I had wished they had copied "John Carter" more, however the lack of a budget prevent exotic scenery . The production starts out as if it was going to be a decent film. But then suddenly everything takes place down on the farm. The idea of getting real help to combat an army of Orcs seems alien to John Norton, who would rather fight them alone save for the occasional person who drops by.This film is in no way connected to LOTR except for the fact it borrows species from it.A desperation rental.Parental Guide: No f-bombs, sex, or nudity. Filmed in Salt Lake City.
douglaswhidden
Sort of wondering about the legal implications of using what is clearly a slightly altered (in the hilt) or knock-off version of the LOTR licensed Sting sword. Clearly there's some fandom going on, including dialogue references to LOTR, so maybe it's all in good fun, but they even showed the sword in the end credits, with clearly visible Elvish script and all.However, have to give props; the practical make-up was pretty darn good, almost as good as the digital fill-ins were bad, and the voice acting at least was on the verge of stirring at times. Given the budget, good effort.
nickwelp
This movie features a large body count. With all the mayhem it's easy to overlook characters that stayed engaging, some funny lines and the beautiful Texas scenery. This is an action movie and every human in the film is either an action hero or a horror victim. There are some satisfying plot culminations, and the action hero subverts a trope through a poker bluff, which takes some mindful writing. Each character who lasted more than a scene had development. Is this movie original? I've never seen a US Marine type guy fight off a horde of Orcs before, and the gun loving human side of me enjoyed the fantasy of a heroic battle an old D&D foe. The movies I'd compare it too have a tragic historical connotation of imperialism such as Zulu. There are too many movies with white protagonists slaughtering hordes of dark skinned people. As this takes place in Texas, it's impossible to separate borderland narratives in the real world from the story of this man protecting a boundary between worlds. This movie is not alone, LOTR sets the standard. This is my gripe with fantasy overall and is not specific to this movie. This movie is a mishmash of genres but is mostly a Western with Fantasy elements. It is very violent, around 1/4th as violent as Rambo 4. There is one scene that is like a tribute to Friday the 13th movies, but generally the violence is Action in nature and not Horror. There are two pulp scenes. There was no sexual violence.
the-aemish
I watched this movie only because I wanted to see just how bad it actually was. Talk about a horrible plot. This movie is soo low budget, the heroine is actually using a Lord of the Rings replica of 'Sting'. I have never before seen a movie rip off such a known piece and try to pass it off as original. Of course, after seeing that, I have to wonder - are all of those orcs wearing Extra's costumes from the Lord of the Rings films? With the number of folks hired to participate in those films, they'd be easy to find and hire in.The only reason I didn't give this movie a '1', is that I enjoyed the cheesy Eastwood impression that the first Sentinel was passing off.
AD
