After shelling out lots of dollars to sit and watch some of the latest romantic comedies, I decided it was time for a little indulgence. Surfing the net I casually caught a still from a film about a ring and dwarfs. The charter's name in the caption was Brunhilde. I thought to myself, that sounds familiar.Well, it looks like someone finally took a crack at bringing Wagner's ring cycle to film format, only this time shot as a Movie of the Week for TV audiences instead of as a feature film for theatrical release. With that in mind, I have some observations to make: For a TV film it gets a passing grade, but only just. I remember ABC's "Movie of the Week", and seeing all kinds of popular TV and film stars being dragged into projects that would be shown once on the network to garnish ratings, and then vanish into the ether to be only shown on Sunday afternoons or late night shows before the national anthem and test pattern. Well, that's kind of what we got here.Only "Curse of the Ring" gives the audience some very high production values in terms of art direction, but not much else. We see the Nordic and Germanic setting of the tale, and are given some decent support cast members, but the two leads nearly slay themselves as they deliver lines with as much enthusiasm as a local weatherman telling us about the latest cold front. The acting from Benno Furman was that difficult to watch. Kristanna Loken wasn't much better, but at least her character had some fire in her. Benno walks through the project like a star eyed school boy who's concentrating on remembering his lines, all the while Kristanna is doing her best to tell future directors that she actually can act in spite of the collagen in her lips and a blonde dye job that would have put a 1950's pinup to shame.Seriously, there's lots of visuals to be proud of here for what the project is. The SFX are quite impressive for a low scale TV production, and the amount of energy and care that went into the art direction is also something of note, but the two leads are as flat as a local theatre troop being recruited as extras for that Hollwood production that rolled into town. Their acting is that bad... or worse.Had the producers pumped a few more dollars into this thing, and cast not necessarily well known talent, but competent talent into the roles, and then re-aired the project several times, then guaranteed this thing would have made its sponsors proud, and then some by boost DVD sales. As it stands now this thing is only five bucks to buy on the open market, and believe you me there's a couple of reasons for that; they are Furman and Loken.Technically, other than the art direction, the shots are simply okay. Better lensing as well as overall direction could have saved this thing, and pushed into beyond its niche, and into the realm of general audiences appreciating a well crafted and acted film. As it stands now it simply appeals to the Tolkien and D&D crowd. And again, this didn't need to be so, but the film is what it is.Dramatically the film tries to go into the realms of love and betrayal, and we get a taste of that by virtue of the story. Even Loken starts to shine a little as an actress when she does her scenes that address this concept, but we're weighed down by the fact that nobody seems to really care about the lines they're reciting. Well, perhaps that's unfair, because most of the supporting cast do an okay job.Overall I'm glad I saw it finally, but it's not something I'd readily recommend.Definitely watch at your own risk.

Watched this on TV was disappointed that it was split into three chunks of viewing which really spoilt the watching of it. That said it has all the elements of a fantasy tale without the nasty Hollywood glitz that was Lord of the Rings. Its a simple story rather akin to Romeo and Juliet I wonder if its this tale Shakespeare got his inspiration from? The main actor came across as a little dumb but the supporting cast more than made up for his wooden performance. Have to say the actress playing the queen of Iceland was something really special and will be wanting to see more of her acting works in the future. Sadly I think most people will try to compare this with Hollywood blockbusters like Lord of the rings etc and miss the storytelling not the whizz bang special effects that seem to be current fashion in tinsel town.

Rating a movie cannot simply ignore the budget and the production values. This is a TV product (mini-series, whatever )with B or C-lead actors and it is EXTREMELY GOOD for what it is, compared to billionaire Hollywood productions with (supposedly) AAA+ actors paid millions each. Photography is the best thing I suppose; Uli Edel does another very good job. For what it is, it ought to get 10/10. Lead actor Furmann gives me the feeling of a young Liam Neeson ( I wouldn't be surprised if that resemblance had impressed casting directors ); Julian Sands seems a re-edition of the Nottinghan sheriff from Robin Hood (the scar,the slimy demeanor etc ); the first scenes (the castle under siege, the medieval armors etc ) seem right out of Excalibur and a great liberty for times when a Roman Emperor was supposed to still be in power. Samuel West as king Gunther is unconvincing...his face doesn't fit the character...completely miscast. Loken is one of the most credible, along with Witt. A great TV product worth rubbing elbows with AAA+ productions like Lord of the Rings. Great courage in filming and adaptation of the real legend, instead of fantasy junk books 'inspired' by the same (originality is dead, eh?). I just dream of what would Edel have come up with with a LOTR budget... Von Sydow does a nice cameo part and he's among the best of the bunch. Overall, I recommend it.

This two-part made-for-TV film claims to be the inspiration for Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, when in fact, Tolkien has proclaimed many times that the only similarity between the two is that both have a ring. Just to get to that before heading further on. Tolkien's inspirations came from all over the place, and for this trash to claim it is the main source (though not declaring itself the main, only implying) is entirely dribble.Now, Dark Kingdom is a very lackluster production, though it's easy to watch, and it makes for something good to watch when nothing else is on. I recommend watching it on TV, but if it gets to you that much that you HAVE to have it, then buy the DVD -- but be warned, the cut for the DVD is shorter than the one televised; much of the scenes that actually made this film deeper is now edited to seem more rushed, a h-u-g-e mistake on whomever the choice came from.As for the acting, Dark Kingdom is full of bad accents and monotone deliveries. From the poor job by Benno Furmann as the main hero to the ever-crying performance of Alicia Witt. Everyone else tries and tries, but all it eventually adds up to is... dull and lack of enthusiasm. Kristana Loken is okay, but she has too deep a voice to play some parts -- though she may be a barbaric queen in this film, she needs to work on her tone.The music is really overbearing at points. It takes our focus off of events so many times, that it doesn't add to the mood, but just distracts. The themes work here and there, even if it gets redundant and with little, if any, evolution in sound or composition.The ending is pathetic in terms of faithful to the source material. The story has actually been cut in half... all the deaths of everyone is fit into about 6-minutes of yelling and sword fighting. The further mishaps that occur in the writings is basically thrown out the window, so that the budget could fit in with a four-hour slot. Then why bother making it? Also, Benno Furmann's portrayal of Siegfried as he is killed by Hagan is so laughable, my sides were splitting -- which I'm hoping is the opposite affect they were going for with their audience.Overall, there's a lot that works and doesn't work in Dark Kingdom. While the film has some nice visual effects, the story as a whole is too rushed and trimmed to provide any satisfaction as to what this truly could've achieved in terms of being better. This is really a film worth watching when nothing else is on or as background noise, so I'd only recommend it to you under those conditions.