Dragon Soldiers

I didn't have high hopes for this movie, but man... was I Riffing the hell out of it. I was having a great time. It's not the best movie in the world, but the jokes that can be made are priceless. I LOVE the fact that the movie is self aware of how bad it is. Release date, 05/11/2020 and one of the missing posters has a dude gone missing on 05/12/2020. Which was the date I was watching it on. Too funny. Now it will make sense, in future viewings but, har har. If you love doing MST3K to movies, this one's for you!

Given the movie's title and synopsis, I must admit that I wasn't having much of any high hopes for this 2020 movie titled "Dragon Soldiers" from writer Dan Sinclair and director Hank Braxtan. But since it was a movie that I hadn't already previously seen, and I was given the chance, of course I sat down to watch it.

Well, the concept idea of the movie was ludicrous. I will say that much. I mean, a dragon out somewhere in the mountains. Sure, why not? Just how did it manage to stay hidden? A dragon would consume a massive amount of food, much less be able to stay hidden whilst midflight. Nah, there just were too many plot holes here.

But the movie was actually entertaining enough for what it was - a campy movie that you shouldn't take too serious. It was actually fair enough for mindless entertainment.

The dragon was interesting in design. Sometimes the CGI were quite good, but at other times the CGI were questionable and dubious at best. It made for a strange viewing actually.

Now, a movie such as "Dragon Soldiers" wouldn't warrant any award-winning performances, and you are not in for anything out the of the extraordinary when you watch the actors and actresses perform in this movie.

If you don't mind wasting an hour and a half - give or take - and you enjoy campy movies that makes little sense, by all means go ahead and watch "Dragon Soldiers". However, if you want a movie that is a memorable experience, then this is not the right choice.

My rating of "Dragon Soldiers" lands on a very mediocre five out of ten stars.

As stated in the title and synopsis, this is a movie about a dragon on the loose in small town America and the mercenaries hired to kill it. One does not go into such a movie expecting Dr. Zhivago caliber acting or Avengers level effects. Which is good, because this had neither. But for a B movie, the acting, at least by the main characters, was solid and the dragon, while a little cheesy, looked better than any of the beasties in the old SyFy channel Saturday night movies. The dialogue and plot were decently written, rare things in this genre. Overall, I was well entertained for an hour and half. What more could I ask for?

Unfortunately, "Dragon Soldiers" is a fire-breathing disappointment despite its promises of epic battles and fantastical animals. The movie has a flimsy plot full of cliches, mediocre CGI effects, and unmemorable characters.

The story is obvious from the outset. The mission assigned to our motley crew of one-dimensional soldiers is to defeat a generic bad guy who plans to unleash a dragon army. There are no shocks in this discourse, and it is full of corny one-liners that don't work.

The dragons themselves, which are the main attraction of the movie, are a huge letdown. They don't appear like the fire-breathing monsters we were promised; instead, the CGI utilized to make them feels antiquated. The animals resemble enormous lizards. You're left feeling let down by their combat sequences because they don't really convey any sense of gravity or danger.

The action scenes are monotonous and badly staged. The editing feels choppy and the unsteady camerawork makes it difficult to follow what's going on screen, which further detracts from the viewing experience.

Although there are many well-known faces in the cast, none of them get enough screen time to really stand out. Throughout the movie, their characters don't grow or form any significant relationships, which makes it difficult to care about what happens to them.

For younger audiences or ardent dragon enthusiasts with extremely low expectations, "Dragon Soldiers" might have some attraction. However, this movie is best left on the burning pyre if you're looking for a well-made action movie with a gripping plot and credible characters.

Wow, so many holes. Not the greatest action, but kinda fun?

The key to a good movie is the suspension of disbelief, sadly this movie starts out by shattering that, never tries to fix it, and even makes it worse as the movie goes on (I will avoid the spoilers).

My biggest problem is with the plot holes. Dragons are in the presented day, but its not that big of a deal? ... yet they are still trying to figure out how to defeat them? ... and would rather just send a small squad?

Sorry I can't give advice on whether to watch this or not. As I watched this I was dreading the next scene as much as I wanted to see it to see if it made sense or not.

The dialogue is at time just plain corny, although they didn't mean to be. The acting is not bad. The cinematography and directing are actually ok. The script tries to be Rambo-ish, Predator-ish, and others-ish, and fails ... but not miserably. Not sure how to describe it.