Dragonfyre: I'm guessing you haven't seen it, and I'm guessing you're gonna like it

A recent Reddit thread about movies that play out like RPG adventures got me thinking about one of my favorite films matching this description.  While I plugged it on that thread...and I know I mentioned it when Pun discussed something similar over at Halls of the Nephilim (and have probably shared my love for it elsewhere on the internet)...I realized that -- criminally -- I have never discussed this very-discussable movie here on the blog.  And now that I'm working on a campaign involving fantasy monsters encroaching on our world, it's time to talk a little bit about...

Dragonfyre

AKA DragonFyre: The Worldgate Sentinel.  AKA Orc Wars.  (I don't know why it has a second, completely different name, but there ya go.)

From HERE

From HERE.  Yep, this is the same movie.

Very minor spoilers follow.  I think it's mostly stuff you won't be surprised by anyway.

There's a pretty simple premise here:  An American veteran struggling with PTSD buys some property out West to get away from everything.  Then he has to fight a bunch of orcs who trespass on his land trying to kill an elven princess.  He uses guns.

I think the film probably surprises a lot of people with its quality.  I mean...it's definitely a B-movie, clearly ambitious beyond its budget.  The thing is, with many such films, there are things that I (not a filmmaker) can point to and say, "I don't think that should have ended up in the final cut."  Maybe a line needs to be re-cut more believably.  Maybe a goofy FX shot needs to be tossed.  It could be anything and is usually a lot of things.  However, Dragonfyre really doesn't have many (if any) of those moments.  It was clearly produced by skilled and detail-oriented creators.

Many of the costumes and props seem to be LOTR leftovers, or maybe commercially available replicas.  This obviously has the effect of giving the fantastic elements of the movie a look we've seen before, but considering the premise of the story, that might be more positive than negative.  They look pretty darn good.  FX-wise, artists clearly knew when to back off.  The cheesiest effect of the film is probably the CGI dragon (spoiler!), but even that is pretty solid, especially when you consider how dated CG effects from even highly regarded films can look today.  (I'll save my unpopular opinion of never really embracing the look of Gollum for another day.)  The most important effect in the film is probably the dark cloud-splosions of orcs getting shot in the head, and they definitely got that one down.  (It is a fairly violent film, btw, in case that's something you wish to investigate before taking the plunge to watch this.)

If I had to pick one thing to change about Dragonfyre, it wouldn't actually be anything related to production quality.  While the character of Whitefeather is portrayed very well by Wesley John, there's just something off-putting about having another Magical Native American (he's also blind!) character so central to the plot.  It isn't a dealbreaker for me, but I imagine some viewers might take enough offense to want to skip it altogether.  (I know, I know, I hear you...I need to get out of here with all of that woke shit.  I mean, if that's what you're thinking, Whitefeather definitely won't bug you...but I know I'm not the only one who cringes when we notice these stereotypes.)

Overall, I feel pretty good about dropping this one into the grand headcanon of my imagination, and it holds up really well as a film as long as you can accept the low-budget caveat.  (And as I make this edit, it's available on Tubi...free to watch if you don't count those pieces of your soul you give up as you watch commercials!)  Coming up...I think I need to stat out John Norton (the Worldgate Sentinel...oh, another spoiler!) to be an NPC in the Monstrous Matters campaign...