I gave this such a high score because I could not believe it only had a 3.5 rating and I want to see a sequel. Most low budget films are barely worth watching; bad dialog, bad CG, etc. Those who think this is bad; either have never seen a truly bad movie or have a very short attention span. I admit there is some bad dialog and some badly delivered dialog in this movie. If you want lots of action and bad CG effects, then this movie is not for you. That being said, this is a great movie for people who enjoy fantasy. Hell, take out the Orks and Elves and you still have a good movie. Don't expect a lot of action just good entertainment. My only regret is that it ended; I want to see more.

This is a bad movie. The dialogue is stilted and unbelievable. The acting uniformly drab and uninspired. This film has all the warmth of a sub-arctic glacier. Never have pixies, elves, dwarfs and trolls been less appealing. The producers came up with the novel idea of substituting seemingly endless monologues for any kind of real action. The writers must have done most of their work in their parent's basements. Save your time and your money and watch some Beverly Hill Billies reruns. Watching Surf Ningas will be a life reaffirming experience in comparison to the excruciating exercise of watching this film to its dreary ending If you have never played a role playing game this movie will convince you not to.

I'll keep this short since I've wasted enough time watching this movie. I had to register just to inform those fortunate enough to have not seen this movie yet to stay away. To put it kindly, this movie made both Dungeons and Dragons movies blockbuster hits. But that is even an insult as I somewhat enjoyed the first D&D movie. Hell, even Wing Commander movie was 100 times better than this. Drawn out, shoved down your throat, story. Action sequences (3 that I remember) were less than a minute or two long. Acting no better than watching a high school skit. The makeup and special effects is where the most money used to make this film went into.

Picture a world very similar to that of Tolkien's Middle Earth. You've got orcs, elves, a dark bad guy much like Sauron and everything but with one significant twist: 100 years ago, the bad guy won. This is the world of Midnight Chronicles.Some context: this world first appear as a "Campaign setting" for the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game. A campaign setting, for the non-initiated simply being a world backdrop for your game adventures. Christian T. Petersen is primarily known as the president of Fantasy Flight Games, a company that excels at making various board games, roleplaying games and also imports and translates several amazing board games from Europe. This is his first foray as a director and although I've seen worse, there really is a sense that he did not have the technical knowledge to pull this extremely ambitious project.There are a few positives, though. Charles Hubbell is pretty good in the role of the main character, Mag Kiln. The character has a little bit of Shades of grey but essentially, is an envoy of "the bad guy". As such, it is fascinating because usually, protagonists in epic fantasy are clearly "good guys". The only other actor who is decent is Sam L. Landman who plays Kruce. He is Mag Kiln's sidekick and definitely has the best lines in the movie and injects a bit of wit in what is otherwise an overly dramatic affair. The rest of the cast ranges from decent to really bad. The writing doesn't help either. Many of the characters are bland stereotypes, while others do seem to have depth which is ruined by a confusing plot. And this is what basically kills any hope this movie has: the story overfeeds us with awkward plot exposition. There are several characters to keep track of but few are given enough attention for us to care. It has been said Midnight Chronicles was to act as a calling card, a pilot for a potential TV series and this shows. After all these characters are presented and a plot that moves very slowly, the movie ends abruptly on a less than thrilling sequence. As if you had to put "DVD2" in your player. It's a little heartbreaking for me to review this labor of love. The attempt at making a darker fantasy is laudable. And although the whole movie looks amateurish, it must have cost the producers (8 of them, including Petersen) an arm and a leg. The introduction sequence alone features tons of extras on a road. There are horse scene, several sets were build and the 3D is amateurish but still pretty. It all comes down to writing, acting and direction. I can feel the love in this independent project but the skills are lacking. Here's hoping it's still picked for a TV series as there is much potential if additional writers tighten this up.