DUDES & DRAGONS: Tongue-In-Cheek Fantasy Fun

I’m going to be honest and admit that 15 minutes into this film I didn’t want to watch any more. Which is strange, because usually I’m a glutton for punishment when it comes to films I don’t necessarily enjoy. I’ll quite happily sit through to the end, hoping for a change in direction or a ‘bigger picture’ reveal. But the first 15 minutes of Dudes & Dragons were just confusing, and not in a ‘this is making me think’ kind of way. That being said, I am so glad I kept watching.

The film opens with a cameo from 90’s heartthrob Luke Perry, star of Beverly Hills, 90210 and the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer film, and it only gets weirder from there. From Elf Princesses to fire-breathing, love killing dragons controlled by evil wizards, Dudes & Dragons got it all.

A Much Needed Change of Pace

A few scenes in the first act of Dudes & Dragons were too long, making it feel laboured. For instance, there is a scene in which Camilan (Maclain Nelson) asks his parents for their permission to marry Larec the Elf Princess (Clare Niederpruem), and another, where he tries to convince his brother Ramicus (Adam Johnson) to take a wife in order to relieve pressures from their parents off his marriage to Larec. These were unnecessarily long scenes and were to obviously only there for exposition.

But it was at the end of the latter scene that I began to change my mind about the film. What’s more, there is a dragonfly messenger/Princess Leia-esque projection that you would have to be made of stone not to get on board with.

This moment is when the film really starts to come alive. The dragonfly messenger shows a projection of Ennogard, played by Natalie Dormer look-a-like Kaitlin Doubleday, in which she explains that the evil wizard Lord Tensley (played by James Marsters) is keeping her hostage at his castle and offers great riches (as well as her body and soul, but we’ll come back to that) to whomever should rescue her. This is more than enough to spike Ramicus’s interest, and soon they’re all on a mission to slay wicked beasts and rescue golden-haired beauties.

Described as somewhere between The Lord of the Rings and The Princess Bride, Dudes & Dragons follows Camilan and Ramicus’s quite different quests. Camilan is fighting to save the Elf Princess, and Ramicus is just in it for the booty. Along with Camilan’s stable boy Samton (Jake Van Wagoner) and the somewhat disgruntled Shokdor the Ork (Erik Denton), they embark on their epic quest.

Another Epic Quest: The Film’s Production

Co-created by Stephen Shimek and Maclain Nelson (Nelson also taking on the lead role of Camilan), the successful Kickstarter campaign for Dudes & Dragons was backed by 1628 people. 1628 people who believed in the project ­or who, at least, believed that James Marsters affiliation with it was enough to make it worthy of their collective $216,260. The team has gone on to raise enough funds via a second Kickstarter campaign to get the film a theatrical release.

Not only is over 90% of the film shot on a green screen, but on a green screen that they built themselves in a warehouse. The budget was so tight that Maclain Nelson himself had to don the fetching green morph suit and wave a giant dragon head around. Yes, you are aware that the film was made on green screen throughout the film’s duration, but by doing so the team behind it were able to cut down costs and simplify resources. And throughout its 1 hour and 58 minutes I did probably see more fake fire than I have seen in my entire lifetime of watching films and television -excluding 00’s pop music videos which have got quite a lot to answer for – but it was great fun!

Dudes & Dragons uses tropes and stereotypes found in the fantasy genre, but does so with a playful awareness that sets it apart from most modern fantasy films. It’s like a show-and-tell of the fantasy genre, as if creators are holding things up and saying “look, I love this, but isn’t it problematic?” And it is; for the most part this works really well.

Fantasy Women Leave A Lot To Be Desired

Although it would have been nice to see some of the ideas raised taken a little further. For example, the use of the three main women in the film:

Ennogard, played by Kaitlin Doubleday, is from the very beginning in the clutches of evil wizard Lord Tensley. In the majority of scenes, she’s chained up. Why is she chained up? Because she won’t marry Lord Tensley of course, but don’t worry, she’s sent a messenger dragonfly to get help, and the reward to whomever should take up the challenge? As well as castles and riches, her soul and her body for as long as she should live.

Larec the elf Princess, played by Clare Niederpruem, spends the entire film waiting. She waits for for Camilan to return, waits for him to return again – just lots and lots of waiting. And whilst she waits? She talks only about Camilan, obviously.

The last is an older woman, Belveeda, played by Shannon Engemann. Mysterious and with magical powers, Belveeda is the only one of the three who doesn’t completely rely upon a man, although she does attempt to hide her brown teeth by painting them white in a bid to trick Ramicus into marrying her. Women eh?

This is a reflection of the female characters seen in a lot of the fantasy genre, but it feels like a waste not to utilize these characters and actors better. The tongue-in-cheek points are made with the introduction of each of the women, but why not then try to challenge the stereotype?

Then there’s James Marsters. Marsters plays Lord Tensley, who captures Ennogard and tries to force her to marry him. Not only this, but he also controls a fire-breathing death machine in the form of a dragon and is using said dragon to rid the realm of love. Why, you might ask? I’m not entirely sure really, it’s suggested that he was jilted in the past, but it’s never confirmed.

As a character Tensley perpetuates the idea that men are somehow owed women, and when the woman he wants refuses him he sets about eradicating love altogether; it’s just your run of the mill rom-com situation… Marsters is no stranger to playing baddies, best known for making vampires sexy before it was cool in his seven-year stint as Spike in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series, and its spin-off show Angel. If you’re a Buffy/Angle fan then you’re going to need to get over the fact that Marsters hair isn’t bleached blond –one that took me a considerable amount of time. But once you do you can sit back and marvel at his effortless depiction of the evil wizard.

He plays the character like a spoilt child who wants to hurt everyone when he does not get his way. It would have been all too easy for Tensley not to work as a character, seemingly wanting more than anything for Ennogard to love him. But Marsters plays the character in such a way that you can see the innocence that the evil stems from, giving Tensley depth and making sense of his contradictions.

Robert Allen Elliott was brought in to compose the original score for the film. The score binds the film together, creating a sense of scale for the epic backgrounds, and it added to the comedy in places and brilliantly punctuated fight scenes and tender embraces alike.

Final Thoughts…

If I’m honest I’ve fallen a little bit in love with Dudes & Dragons and the story of how it was made. From my possibly slightly overindulgent research I have watched bloopers, cast and crew interviews and Comic-Con panels, and I still want to see more. This is a film made by a group of people that all really care about what they’re doing and this really comes across in the final piece.

Moreover, they don’t have the money to just throw at it, so what they are doing, they’re doing creatively and it makes all the difference.

Could you get past the comedy wigs and give this film a fair chance?  

Dudes & Dragons comes to VOD, digital platforms and DVD on March 1.