Friday, June 16, 2017

Fromage Fridays #41: DragonHeart 4: Battle for the Hearthfire


The 4 isn't in the title. I just felt the need to remind ourselves that there are now 4 of these things for some reason.


Well folks, it’s finally happened. After about 2 decades of life, “Dragonheart” has finally joined the annals of late 80s-mid 90s cult fantasy franchises such as “Highlander” and “The Crow” in that they consist of several entries that you probably didn’t know existed that are collectively equal to about a fraction of their inaugural film’s quality.

Not that that will stop them from continuing to be made for some indiscernible reason but the way franchises like this have tried to subsist on subpar direct to video entries never fails to just feel downright desperate no matter how the product in question turns out.

The original “Dragonheart” is a childhood classic for me and one of the reasons for that is because Draco was a character and the plot was centered on his and Dennis Quaid’s relationship.

The groundbreaking and subsequently dated nature of the CGI used to bring him to life was secondary to how endearing he was as a character.

For all the criticism I give for this “franchise’s” decline in quality however, at least the other 2 movies in the series got that. Their quality may have whiplashed between watered down for kids and blasé retread of the same material but the boy/man and his dragon were always the highlights because it’s what you showed up for.

A part of me wants to declare a certain respect for “The Battle for Heartfire” for willing to shake up the core formula by focusing on how the heart bond relationship between dragon and human can effect twins raised humbly that find themselves in larger than life circumstances but the speed at which the movie moves to plant its head up its own ass by dragging out the plot with world building while shrouding the nature of its protagonists in mystery that makes their actions on screen agonizing to watch just torpedoes all of the good will that I really wanted to have for the film.

And for quite some time, I did indeed have a lot of good will towards it.

The fourth film in the “Dragonheart” series is more or less the first direct sequel to the previous film, Fromage Fridays Alumn “Dragonheart3: The Sorcerer’s Curse.” The film does take place several decades after said movie but features the return of that film’s dragon, Drago, voiced this time around by Patrick Stewart, succeeding the role from Ben Kingsley.

That film’s protagonist, King Gareth, reaches the end of his natural lifespan and inadvertently passes on the abilities of the dragonheart bond to his twin grandchildren, Edric and Meghan.

The first act of “Battle for the Heartfire” is pretty pulled back compared to the other sequels and actually comes out all the better for it. Gareth’s court prepares for his passing with all of the politics that would imply when grappling with the possibility of there being no heir to the throne but respectful still of a good man that they have all grown to call friend.

His passing and the expected subsequent passing of Drago is actually a rather heartwarming sequence; the dragon in question pays final respects to his good friend and chosen bond mate while the clergy show said dragon the respect that he’s do, even saying a prayer for him and offering some final words of comfort before the subversion of his continued existence sinks in.

The film then shifts gears to recruiting Edric, raised to become the young sheriff of a small village and benefitting from the enhanced strength of his heart bond, as the new King and his antics of trying to be a cocky but loveable king of the people while maintaining a distaste for dragons fostered by his father, the estranged son of Gareth, come together with the movie’s opening to make for a solid feature.

The charm and earnestness in the first 35 minutes or so of “Battle for the Heartfire” were such a breath of fresh air and the twist on the formula of having a protagonist bred to despise dragons beyond a mere misunderstanding of the unknown was so endearing that the film was practically on track for a perfect 4 Shatner rating.

Then the sister enters the picture.

In childhood, the siblings had a falling out, which forced Meghan to flee the land. She returns with an army of Vikings to seize the crown that she sees as rightfully hers.

Once all of the revelations regarding their relationship are laid out via plot twist serving flashbacks, you’re left to see the potential of a film that could have been, exploring the darker nature of humanity fueled by the damages that we suffer in life and the heartache that this must bring Drago, who’s stuck at the center of this by no choice of his own.

What ultimately plays out however, is a film that tries and fails miserably to be complex under the assumption that telling the narrative directly undermines depth, creating a circumstance that is actually quite the opposite.

The revelations that drive the characters may be interesting in theory but the movie’s jumbled editing leaves you with a lot of twists that fall emotionally flat built on characters brought to life by performances that leave a lot to be desired.

Tom Harries casting in an energetic role do a decent job to mask his stilted delivery but the true victim in all of this is poor Jesamine-Bliss Bell, who falls under the umbrella of “badass female characters” who are “badass” not because they’re smart, powerful, or multidimensional people but because they’re stoic with wooden delivery.

Watching her try to play her damages as an excuse to be a jerk throughout laughable sequences trying to remind the audiences that women had it hard during the Dark Ages, as if the very timeframe being called such wasn’t indicator enough sucks all of the life and adventure out of the movie which wraps up as another excuse to listen to a beloved European actor portray a dragon.

Ultimately however, they barely even get that right. Once the sibling rivalry story kicks off, Drago practically becomes a nonentity in the movie to a point where I’d believe every line that he speaks was cobbled together from Patrick Stewart recordings of the last 30 years.

The weakest aspects of the film basically jump to the forefront to take over and as if that weren’t bad enough the film basically has the gall to make its ending a damn near beat for beat recreation of the first film’s ending, which in this context, amounts to sacrificing the best part of the movie in order to save the aspects that you wish were dead by the half way mark.


The pleasant dragon voiced by Professor X with the demeanor of Captain Picard is dead but he did it to save two selfish and dangerously overpowered brats portrayed by amateurs fresh out of acting school. Hurray.


 out of 4 Shatners




Bottom Line: As far as 2017 movies about Patrick Steward dying for our sins goes, I think I'll stick with "Logan."

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