The Sword and the Sorcerer was long counted as one of those movies that promised a sequel but never delivered. Even though a movie with (quite some) flaws, it was fun and entertaining to some demographic I personally am lucky to be part of. With that in mind, when I found out that a sequel was upcoming I was of course interested to see it.
Not many sequels are in par with the quality of the original, and even fewer exceed it. Especially with so many years and movies in between the two. I should've seen it coming, but I was still shocked at what a stinker Tales of an Ancient Empire turned out to be.
The story, even to those who can quote multiple lines from the original, was disjointed, and really seemed like it was thrown together from various unfinished ideas, like the lyrics for Nik Kershaw's The Riddle. While in the 80's it proved to be the makings of a hit song, it has never been successfully done in a movie. Especially with too little acting skill and too much blue/green-screen (for comparison, SWIII comes to mind). Yet, hats of to mr. Sorbo and mr. Horsley for being shiny beacons of professionalism and skill in this hapless jumble. And just when the story starts to make a bit of sense, the films ends abruptly.
I do not understand how someone considers this movie (and especially the ending) "artsy". If this film is artsy with delightfully meandering and complex narrative, captivating scenery and top-notch acting, then drunken nightclub party rocking is interpretive dance and the youtube-videos of an animal playing the piano are the high point of western classical music. And that's not a world I want to live in.
For me this movie was like opening a bottle of (cheap) white wine, yet finding out on the first taste that it's vinegar. The appropriate action is to spit it out, throw out the bottle, and go for something better. I, however, drank this movie to the very last drop.
Avoid.
Not many sequels are in par with the quality of the original, and even fewer exceed it. Especially with so many years and movies in between the two. I should've seen it coming, but I was still shocked at what a stinker Tales of an Ancient Empire turned out to be.
The story, even to those who can quote multiple lines from the original, was disjointed, and really seemed like it was thrown together from various unfinished ideas, like the lyrics for Nik Kershaw's The Riddle. While in the 80's it proved to be the makings of a hit song, it has never been successfully done in a movie. Especially with too little acting skill and too much blue/green-screen (for comparison, SWIII comes to mind). Yet, hats of to mr. Sorbo and mr. Horsley for being shiny beacons of professionalism and skill in this hapless jumble. And just when the story starts to make a bit of sense, the films ends abruptly.
I do not understand how someone considers this movie (and especially the ending) "artsy". If this film is artsy with delightfully meandering and complex narrative, captivating scenery and top-notch acting, then drunken nightclub party rocking is interpretive dance and the youtube-videos of an animal playing the piano are the high point of western classical music. And that's not a world I want to live in.
For me this movie was like opening a bottle of (cheap) white wine, yet finding out on the first taste that it's vinegar. The appropriate action is to spit it out, throw out the bottle, and go for something better. I, however, drank this movie to the very last drop.
Avoid.