Picture a world very similar to that of Tolkien's Middle Earth. You've got orcs, elves, a dark bad guy much like Sauron and everything but with one significant twist: 100 years ago, the bad guy won. This is the world of Midnight Chronicles.
Some context: this world first appear as a "Campaign setting" for the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game. A campaign setting, for the non-initiated simply being a world backdrop for your game adventures.
Christian T. Petersen is primarily known as the president of Fantasy Flight Games, a company that excels at making various board games, roleplaying games and also imports and translates several amazing board games from Europe. This is his first foray as a director and although I've seen worse, there really is a sense that he did not have the technical knowledge to pull this extremely ambitious project.
There are a few positives, though. Charles Hubbell is pretty good in the role of the main character, Mag Kiln. The character has a little bit of Shades of grey but essentially, is an envoy of "the bad guy". As such, it is fascinating because usually, protagonists in epic fantasy are clearly "good guys". The only other actor who is decent is Sam L. Landman who plays Kruce. He is Mag Kiln's sidekick and definitely has the best lines in the movie and injects a bit of wit in what is otherwise an overly dramatic affair. The rest of the cast ranges from decent to really bad. The writing doesn't help either. Many of the characters are bland stereotypes, while others do seem to have depth which is ruined by a confusing plot.
And this is what basically kills any hope this movie has: the story overfeeds us with awkward plot exposition. There are several characters to keep track of but few are given enough attention for us to care. It has been said Midnight Chronicles was to act as a calling card, a pilot for a potential TV series and this shows. After all these characters are presented and a plot that moves very slowly, the movie ends abruptly on a less than thrilling sequence. As if you had to put "DVD2" in your player.
It's a little heartbreaking for me to review this labor of love. The attempt at making a darker fantasy is laudable. And although the whole movie looks amateurish, it must have cost the producers (8 of them, including Petersen) an arm and a leg. The introduction sequence alone features tons of extras on a road. There are horse scene, several sets were build and the 3D is amateurish but still pretty.
It all comes down to writing, acting and direction. I can feel the love in this independent project but the skills are lacking. Here's hoping it's still picked for a TV series as there is much potential if additional writers tighten this up.
