The franchise has been dead for 15 years, and another DTV film came to bring it new life. With a cheap DTV budget this was a big money maker reviving the franchise for two more DTV films. Time to look into the film that made a successful legacy sequel series.
The only returnee were the producer from the first two and composer from the last film. Composer Mark McKenzie was careful with using the iconic theme from the first film, and he did a very good job at integrating new music with it. The producer’s stepson did the script, and I think he is the strongest part. I could not help but notice the writing is very fast paced, while the directing is very slow. It does give it an interesting atmosphere.
For those who do not know in Dragonheart the dragons can give half their heart to a human, and with it they share each other’s strength, pain, and life force. In the first one the villain got the heart. They are about following the old code.
Inside the table’s circle, Under the sacred sword. A knight must vow to follow The code that is unending, Unending as the table– A ring by honor bound. A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His might upholds the weak. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked! The right can never die, If one man still recalls. The words are not forgot, If one voice speaks them clear. The Code forever shines, If one heart holds it bright.
It starts with cloudy figures describing Hadrian’s Wall. Even after Rome’s fall it divided the Roman like Southerners and the mystical Celts of the North lead by Druids. The Celts are divided on living in peace or destroying it. It takes place around 300 years before the first film. It is very quick and effective exposition.
All within the first five minutes the Druids meet. Brude betrays and kills the others. It can seem like Brude is doing this for the good of his people like he claims, but he betrays his real motivation, “The wealthy lands to the South.” He is really just power hungry and kills his mentor. Good opening. One druid in training, Lorne, escapes.
Our hero, Gareth is introduced. He is a squire trying to be a knight to Sir Horsa. Gareth is his best fighter, but he is merciful to the peasants when collecting money and pays for them, and Horsa decides he will ultimately cost him a little money and kicks him out.
Great introduction. Gareth will have real trouble keeping The Old Code, as the major self-less act gets him in so much trouble. Horsa is what Brude will be if he wins. Instead of stopping there he will keep milking tiny insignificant amounts of money here and there, as having it will be his god. In fact he will later get dragon eggs, and his plan will be to sell them as food instead of the much cooler evil stuff he can do. While Brude is the more threatening villain I think Horsa is the better one.
Like the first two films the knights are a corrupt group. In the first film Bowen is clearly the exception, and even he gets corrupted for a huge chunk of the movie. The knights are described as rotten to the core and just interested in personal glory and money. When I heard it was a prequel I wonder if this would be the origin or glory days of The Old Code, but it is not. Even in the past The Old Code was considered outdated by most.
This film both romanticized and deromanticizes the past. Even around 1,500 years ago they were critiquing the past and old values just like we do today. It is not about trying to be just like them, but having the timeless values. The old code preaches self-less ness, honesty, and justice. These are old values because they are timeless, and that is the part of the past that should be romanticized. It fits well with the first movie.
Horsa says Gareth can be a knight if he pays him 100 crowns. He fully thinks Gareth will actually steal that amount and give it to him. An asteroid falls on the North side of the Wall, and Gareth hears about possible riches in it. He climbs the wall after easily stealing a sword from a new knight. It is a good introduction to the main setting. It is a dark and mysterious forest with a mysterious figure stalking him, and he finds a hanging corpse. On the other hand I am going to get really tired of this forest.
Gareth finds the asteroid, the dragon, and several eggs. According to the writer the ancient dragons have died, and these are sent to replace them, and I always assumed something like that was the case. For selfish reasons Gareth saves the eggs (money), but the dragon thinks it was for selfish reasons, and does something I was shocked to see.
1/4 the way through he gives him half his heart. For the first time in the series the hero will have the dragon bond. With that they have to buff the villains, so Brude does his master plan. He curses Drago to be his slave by the moon and a shade by the sun. Just giving the hero a dragon heart is a big deal. While this film has many character counterparts with the first one this is completely different.
Gareth is rescued by Lorne and Rhonu. Basically they do not like having to trust a Southerner, but they are happy to have the dragon bond on their side. They happily think he is a knight, and he does not correct them. I really just view them as discount Brother Gilbert and Kara. Lorne explains to him how the dragon bond works.
Next Gareth and the dragon connect in a great scene. Using the shared heart they can find each other. There are scenes in the first one where it is implied it works that way, and Gareth tries talking to him in broken English resulting in “I shared my heart with the village idiot.” In addition it expands on the lore. The dragon (deemed “Drago” by Gareth) can speak thanks to the bond. Makes perfect sense, as Draco in the first one was basically using a second language before the bond. In the first film Draco doubts his dragon name can be pronounced by humans. Here Drago tries, and it comes off as gibberish.
Gareth says he is a knight. Drago knows it is false, but technically true. He has seen him be heroic, and that is his definition of a knight.
Shade form Drago is there to save money, but he also looks cool. Nice way to save money, as they have to priotize the budget. Brude is keeping 50 gazillion torches to keep him away. Thanks to Lorne’s draining magic they get the eggs Back. Gareth tries to escape without them, but stopping to save Lorne halts his plans to abandon them and sell the eggs to Horsa.
Shadow jumping is introduced. It does not go very far, but it makes an entertaining scene. It is not in the first one, as Drago only learned it because of the curse. The actual meat is the Drago/Gareth talking and playing. They feel each other’s physical and emotional pain making some funny scenes. After this is a dramatic scene where Gareth tries to pull the gold off the eggs, and this physically hurts Drago, as the evil affects his half the heart.
After is the best scene in the movie. Brude has some of his slaves, friends of Lorne and Rhonu, paraded around to draw Lorne and Rhonu out. Now Gareth has his whole goal, distracted enemy, and the Celts gone. Seeing them about to die he comes back. This strengthening of the heart is visualized by the heart changing from human to dragon, as this temporarily frees Drago from the curse. Using some preestablished lore they escape alive. If there was every doubt Brude is not evil but just defending his people he happily talks about killing Rhonu’s mother within hearing distance. Not to mention enslaving them, and earlier he killed several in fits of rage.
Gareth and Drago have a literal heart to heart before he is totally enslaved. Gareth apparently decides the best plan is still to put them at the mercy of Horsa, and he captures all of them and the dragon eggs to sell to be eaten. Humorously the knight Gareth stole the sword from takes it back without orders implying Horsa refused to give him another one.
The battle begins, and it is dark and violent. This is known for being the most violent film in the franchise for a reason. Drago effortlessly breaks the gate, and the good Celtic army arrives making a three way battle with Horsa just packing up his money to leave. No wonder the Southerners suck at fighting, he put no effort into training them.
In the highlight to free Drago Gareth follows the code and fights Horsa to save the eggs. The big moment is when he catches the sword with his hands. There is clear pain, a sad version of the main theme plays, and his heart is shown full of dragon scales. Drago is freed, and Gareth beats Horsa. Interestingly he then executes him. It is kind of refreshing seeing the hero do that with no implied evil intentions. His wrath undoes the wicked after all.
Rhonu gets fatally injured killing Brude. An unborn dragon somehow shares its heart with her. They marry in a union of Northerner and Sountherner uniting the realms in “The Age of the Dragon.” Good ending for a good movie.
I am glad they did not force attacks on the second film. Sure I do not like it, but that would not have helped this movie.
It lacks rewatch bonuses, but I really enjoyed it back in 2015. Four Tree Stars. Next time is Scooby-Doo Mask of the Blue Falcon.
The Animation Historian 