1996-01-01
N/A
101 min
With the future of the world hanging in the balance, one fearless hero's quest to solve "The Riddle of the Chosen". As the Lord Protector makes his way through a land of magic and mystery, his allies grow stronger and his enemies more fierce. Will the Lord Protector make it to the center of evil and banish the dark forces that plot destruction, or will the power of evil overwhelm this mortal man and envelope the entire planet in a shroud of darkness and despair?
When I saw this film, I assumed it had been made in the late seventies - the effects are almost drawn onto the screen; but then I spotted in was made in 1996 and my appreciation really slumped. The first thing you notice is that old Ben Hur himself is the narrator - but why? Did he need the cash? The story, not that it really matters - is a sort of "Conan" meets "Red Sonja" affair with the hero "Rennick" (Patrick Cassidy) and his trusty team of stalwarts setting off to engage the epitome of evil in a battle for the very survival of our planet. Oddly enough, the campy performances; the large-scale paper-maché sets and the merry accompanying score might be more passable if the dialogue hadn't been written by an eight year old with English as his/her fifth language. The sword and sandals fight scenes are all terribly theatrically staged, and the visual effects are similar to those on a game of "Asteroids". Not the worst, but you can see it from here...
