This medieval fantasy has good moments, & I liked that it is played with such earnestness rather than for camp. Asbrey of Westender (Blake Stadel) is a serviceable down on his luck reluctant hero. Plus the scenery is sometimes nice & the score is suprisingly appropriate. Still, the film's faults overwhelm even the B-budget charm, & it would probably only work for a very young viewer.
The interminable walking-in-the-desert sequence most kills the film. The "re-creation" of the medieval world without towns, fortresses, or castles very soon makes it seem like a big joke that an Oregon national forest is posing as a pseudo-Arthurian realm.
With so little to convince anyone it's not just a walk in the national park, & that especially boring walk across a wild-west desert which just screams "medieval Europe NOT!", I suppose it didn't matter when we even got such out-of-place weaponry as a samurai sword tossed in.
No one but the kindly hermit (Rod James) can act worth a pit. Since Oregon has such an important Shakespeare festival, you'd think they could've found actors better than these Junior College rejects, though perhpas no one competent would have settled for such thin roles.
To give the film its due, they had a costumer who I hope gets professional work again. The clothes were great
copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl
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