In 1996 director Rob Cohen unleashed his fantasy film Dragonheart featuring the voice of Sir Sean Connery as the dragon on audiences. I loved the film and have watched it a few times, but was unaware that they built an entire franchise around it until now. Since its release there have been three sequels and prequels released in 2000, 2015 and 2017. Now yet another prequel has been made with Dragonheart: Vengeance, but does it build on anything to stand out for the series or is it a dragon not worth coming out of hiding?

 

Dragonheart: Vengeance follows Lukas, a young farmer whose family is killed by savage raiders in the countryside who sets out on an epic quest for revenge, forming an unlikely trio with a Darius, a swashbuckling, sword-fighting mercenary and Siveth, the ice breathing dragon who was once banished from the kingdom for failing to save the king’s life. Compelled by the young man’s cause, she emerges from hiding, using her fantastical powers on the trio’s adventurous journey which brings revelations and rewards beyond vengeance.

 

After doing some research I am pretty impressed with the varying voice cast for each of the previous films including Robby Benson, Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ben Kingsley all joining the ranks of Sir Sean Connery. They have kept that streak alive with Helena Bonham Carter stepping in as the first female dragon of the franchise. I haven’t any of the films outside of the original so can’t speak to how it compares or connect to any of the others. As a film it is fine and plays up more like something on the SyFy channel that a big budget fantasy epic like the original. I was fairly impressed with the effects of the dragon itself as most films like this usually end up with pretty cheese effects.

 

The story is fine and keeps things moving offering up some laughs, but tries to keep the fantasy action and drama tone in place. It gets a bit silly at times but not in a comedy way, but just in lack of consistent tone. It’s hard to get invested in these characters since they are just kind of thrust on you with little backstory. What is here just isn’t enough to make it something you would overly care about. As a while the film is pretty generic and I am sure fans of the series will no doubt enjoy it.

 

Its far from the worse film of the genre I have seen and the dragon stuff alone is fun to watch is you are fan of that stuff so decide for yourself and give it a shot. Dragonheart: Vengeance is available now from Universal Home Entertainment.