Knights Of Bloodsteel: a.k.a. "Dragons Of Blackroc" a.k.a. "Passable mish mosh of a bunch of other sword & sorcery flicks"
Monday, April 27, 2009 at 5:00AM 
When you don
Well, Knights Of Bloodsteel was a heck of a lot better than the last mini series I watched (Merlin's Apprentice). It's not that original, but at least all the parts it steals from classic tales we've all seen a million times are recombined into something that feels different. We have elves, goblins, humans, and an evil malformed being intent on retrieving a precious crucible which is the source of all power in the land. We have four mismatched 'ordinary folk' pulled together and knighted to quest for this crucible, since it must not fall into the hands of the evil Dragon Eye.
We have an elven granddaughter following in the wise footsteps of her great wizard grandfather, training to become a mighty sorcerer for Mirabalis. Supposedly she's also a bounty hunter, but we never see her collect an actual bounty. We have a human on a personal quest for revenge, killing off all the evil members of The Brood who slaughtered his family. He calls himself an assassin, and has a very interesting 'come and go' (mostly 'go') Irish accent. We have a human conman who sells devices that would be Viagra today. And we have a goblin who turns out to be cursed and empowered with the ability to be a vessel to the souls of the recently departed, gaining their powers and knowledge at the cost of his own will.
The story itself is just backdrop, an excuse to watch sword fights, people with elf ears, and CGIed dragons. There are lot of holes that just never get filled in by the end of it, such as Dragon Eye's obsession to revive his very human son, who was cursed to slumber forever while his father wasted away to nothingness. At the end, we don't get to see what happens to this child, or at least, I didn't notice because all the other ends were lofting about in the wind, obviously seeking the grounding force of a potential sequel, but just being distracting and mildly disappointing after so much invested time.
There's definitely nothing wrong with the cast. We get Christopher Lloyd playing the wise elven sorcerer Tesselink. He pulls off the long hair better than you'd think, and only now am I thinking of the obvious comparison of his character to Gandalf when he wore that whole white ensemble. We don't get enough of Mr. Lloyd, but while he's there things are definitely on solid footing. David James Elliott plays John Serragoth, the human assassin, and while his accent is laughable, he's a charming presence otherwise. Natassia Malthe plays the elven sorcerer Perfidia, and while her character isn't consistent throughout, I don't really care because she kicks just as much butt as she always does, and manages to keep her slight English accent from succumbing to a vanishing spell. Mark Gibbon plays the evil Dragon Eye, wearing tons of makeup that probably sent him to his chiropractor after each day's filming. If that's his voice coming out of that makeup too, damn! It's definitely a fitting tone for such an ugly, scary guy. The rest of the characters are all very well played, even though some are there just as ballast.
The special effects are very cool in this movie. The whole story hinges on a metal called Blood Steel which is supposed to fuel magic and machine alike. There are some nifty compasses, viewing devices, spy devices, and assassination gadgets, including an assassin's claw that can control the poor human it's installed on. The CGI on the dragons we get a few glimpses of are worth the wait, and remind you that you're watching a fantasy film.
Sadly, there's a lot missing from Knights Of Bloodsteel that would make me excited to hear of a sequel, or a television series. Hopefully when they put out a DVD version it will be some ridiculously extended version that adds another two or three hours so all the gaps can be filled in, and the story fleshed out properly. This is another movie that is so close to greatness that it's frustrating. I'm going to go have another glass of wine to take away the sting of 'what should have been'.
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