tvthatdoesntsuck

REVIEW FOR

FIRE AND ICE
A Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie
Written by Michael Konyves and Angela Mancuso
Directed by Pitof
Starring Amy Acker, Tom Wisdom, John Rhys-Davies, and Arnold Vosloo (Habib Marwan from 24!)

Okay, my first TV movie review.  To be honest, the only reason I watched this film was because it had Amy Acker in it.  She played Fred and Illyria on Angel and is probably the most underrated actress working today.  She wasn’t given much to work with in this movie, but that’s basically because it’s so plot driven and quite short (two hours, with commercials).  The basic gist of the movie is this.  A fire dragon attacks King Augustin’s (Vosloo) kingdom, so his daughter Princess Luisa (Acker) takes the initiative to enlist the help of a known dragon killer to save them.  Turns out, said dragon killer is dead, survived by his equally skilled son, Gabriel (Wisdom) and his witty/large/valiant friend, Sangimel (Rhys-Davies).  There are a lot of fantasy tropes at work here, and none of it is really innovative, but I think the movie achieves what it intended to–create a plot-driven story with somewhat likable characters that fight dragons.  At the film’s best, it’s cathartic (mostly thanks to the great score, and Acker’s acting) and at worst it’s cheesy, but never cringe worthy.

The worst thing about the movie is probably the tree people, who are as bad as Power Rangervillains.  They’re literally dudes with leaves taped to their bodies who make tribal sounds as they attack Luisa.  Mercifully, that scene was short.  Another huge problem I had was the audio.  Re-dubbing was used expansively in this film; I don’t know if there was a problem that they couldn’t use mics or had bad sound, but every line of Paxian’s (Augustin’s advisor) dialogue was horribly dubbed over.  The acting as a whole wasn’t fantastic or terrible, but I have to say, as much as I love, praise, and worship Amy Acker, it took a while to get used to the British accent she was made to do.

Overall, it was a surprisingly enjoyable film.  I came for the Acker and stayed for the… well, mostly still the Acker, but at least I enjoyed the stay!

6/10

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