Dungeons & Dragons (film)

Dungeons & Dragons is a 2000 American action adventure fantasy film directed by Courtney Solomon, written by Carroll Cartwright and Topper Lilien, and based on the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Among the more notable features of the otherwise poorly received film are cameo appearances by Richard O'Brien (in a parody of his TV program The Crystal Maze) and Tom Baker. Parts of the film were made on location at Sedlec Ossuary.

Despite its poor box office performance and critical failure, a made-for-TV sequel, Wrath of the Dragon God was released in 2005. It was not a direct continuation of the storyline of the previous film, though Bruce Payne's character, Damodar, makes a return. A third film, The Book of Vile Darkness, was shot in 2011 and direct-to-DVD released in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2012.

Plot
The Empire of Izmir has long been a divided land, ruled by the Mages, an elite group of warlocks. An evil mage named Profion creates a magical sceptre that can allow him to control Gold dragons, but his attempt to control a captive one fails, and he is forced to kill it. As he begins to make new plans, the dragon bleeds into the river, causing it to catch fire, which many inhabitants notice, including a pair of teenage thieves, Ridley and his best friend Snails.

Later, Profion and the Council discuss about the controversial views of Empress Savina, who wants to give rights to non-mages in Izmir. When the Council threatens to confiscate the scepter that allows her to control Gold dragons, she decides to seek the Rod of Savrille, which controls Red dragons. Profion learns of this and decides to take the Rod himself. Meanwhile, Ridley and Snails break into the magic school to steal valuables and many other items, but are discovered by Marina. She is distracted when the Library wizard is held hostage and interrogated by Profion's hideous assistant Damodar for information on the map to the Rod. After refusing to talk, Damodar kills him. Marina gets the map and travels through a portal to escape, taking the thieves with her. After crashing into a pile of garbage, they meet a dwarf named Elwood, who ends up joining Ridley, Snails and Marina escaping through the sewers.

Damodar puts a price on Marina, Ridley, Snails and Elwood's heads and after letting Profion know that the group got away with the map, Profion creates a tentacled monster inside Damodar which controls his body. The group hide inside a tavern and read the map that Ridley and Marina get sucked into. Damodar and his minions attack Elwood and Snails, but they manage to get away with the map. Ridley and Marina exit the map and all decide to work together to find the Rod. They have to find a ruby called the "Eye of the Dragon" that can open the door to a tomb where the sceptre rests. The ruby is located in a den of thieves that is led by Xilus who'll give the group the "Eye of the Dragon" if Ridley solves a maze puzzle of traps. Ridley manages to get the "Eye of the Dragon" when Damodar suddenly arrives to capture him and his friends. Marina is captured instead while Ridley, Snails and Elwood escape, meeting an elf named Norda who works for Empress Savina and informs the Empress about Profion's plan to get the Rod. In his castle, Damodar interrogates Marina and uses the tentacles in his mind to gain her knowledge.

Ridley and Snails break into Damodar's castle to rescue Marina, while Norda and Elwood stay behind. After Ridley and Snails decide to split up, Ridley finds and rescues Marina, but Snails is confronted by Damodar after he finds the map and a fight ensues between the two with Damodar gaining the upper hand. When Ridley and Marina arrive, Snails throws the map to his comrades before Damodar kills him and throws his body off the castle. Ridley becomes enraged over the death of his friend and attacks Damodar, but he disarms him and stabs Ridley with his own sword. In the confusion, Marina grabs some magic dust and creates a magic portal to escape with Ridley. Meanwhile, during a Council meeting, Profion and Empress Savina's factions decide battle for control of Izmir using magic.

At the same time, an elf heals Ridley along with Norda's soldiers. Later, Marina tries to help Ridley get over the death of Snails, but Ridley furiously scolds her. After a brief argument in which Marina convinces Ridley that Snails didn't die in vain, the two forgive each other and become love interests. Ridley later uses the "Eye of the Dragon" to finally get the Rod, which is held by a skeleton of the mage Savrille in the tomb that comes to life and warns Ridley that "he is Savrille and that he is eternally cursed for trying to control the red dragon. Anyone who wields the power of the Rod shall suffer a horrible fate", but Damodar arrives to steal the Rod.

Damodar travels back to the capital with the Rod, where the Empress and her Gold dragons are battling the Mages following Profion below, to bring it to Profion, but Ridley and his friends follow in pursuit. Profion removes the monster from Damodar's body and uses the Rod to summon Red dragons, which battle the Gold dragons and slowly begin to win the fight. Ridley comes across Damodar, duels him with his new magic sword and then kills him before hurling his body off the castle wall. He then attacks Profion, who disarms him and shoves him back. Ridley's companions arrive and fight Profion one at a time. Ridley picks up the fallen Rod, and uses it to stop the red dragons. Marina encourages Ridley to use the Rod to bring Profion down, but Ridley, realizing the Rod's power will corrupt him, refuses and destroys it. Empress Savina arrives and condemns Profion, who fights her with powerful magic, but she succeeds in summoning a Gold dragon which devours Profion, thus ending the battle.

Ridley later visits Snails's grave with Norda, Marina and Elwood and pays tribute to his fallen comrade. When he places the "Eye of the Dragon" on the grave, Snails' name disappears, and Norda tells Ridley not to question his abilities. Norda then uses the "Eye of the Dragon" to transport Ridley to another place in the world where "your friend awaits you", along with herself, Marina and Elwood.

Cast

 * Justin Whalin as Ridley Freeborn
 * Marlon Wayans as Snails
 * Jeremy Irons as Mage Profion
 * Thora Birch as Empress Savina
 * Bruce Payne as Damodar
 * Edward Jewesbury as Vildan Vildir
 * Zoe McLellan as Marina Pretensa
 * Kristen Wilson as Norda
 * Lee Arenberg as Elwood
 * Richard O'Brien as Xilus
 * Tom Baker as Halvarth the Elf
 * Robert Miano as Azmath
 * Tomas Havrlik and Stanislav Ondricek as Mages
 * Martin Astles and Matthew O'Toole as Orcs
 * David O'Kelly as Three Eyes
 * Kia Jam, Nicolas Rochette, and David Mandis as thieves
 * Robert Henny as Crimson Brigade
 * Roman Hemala as Council Mage
 * Andrew Blau and Marta Urbanová as elves
 * Jirí Machácek as Loyalist General
 * Dave Arneson makes a cameo appearance in deleted scenes

Reception
Critical reaction to the film was largely negative. The film has a score of 10% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 91 reviews, the consensus stating: "Critics say this movie has a cheap look and is badly directed. Despite the presence of talented actors, the performances are really bad, and additionally, some people are offended at Marlon Wayans' character, calling it a racist throwback to black stereotypes." The film has a score of 14 on Metacritic based on 25 reviews. Geoff Pevere of the Toronto Star called the film "A wheezy quest story steeped in hobbity gibberish and second-hand Star Wars costumery, featuring a cast so uniformly uncharismatic you may pine for the methody depths of Kerwin Mathews (apart, of course, from the reversely charismatic Irons), the movie has the cheap software look of something found on the Space channel at 4 a.m.". Steve Biodrowski of mania.com comments: "Let's just say that if it weren't for Lost Souls (also a New Line release, coincidentally), this would be a strong contender for the Worst Film of the Year." In February 2010, the readers of Empire voted Dungeons & Dragons the 39th worst film of all time.

Solomon blamed the quality of the film on its investors and license-holders' interference, as well as his own inexperience in filmmaking. He states that he had only intended to produce the film, but was forced to direct by his investors after nearly a decade of complications dealing with TSR and Wizards of the Coast. He also claims that he was forced to use an older script despite having written an updated version that fit the Dungeons and Dragons license better.

Box office
The film opened at #5 at the North American box office making USD$7,237,422 in its opening weekend. The film would go on to gross $15,220,685 in the domestic box office, short of the film's $45 million budget, and with an international gross of $18,586,724, coming up with a worldwide total of $33,807,409.

Roleplaying game
Wizards of the Coast released a Fast-Play Game based on the movie called "The Sewers of Sumdall". It is a DVD-ROM feature on the DVD as a printable PDF file.

Reboot
In August 2015, Warner Bros developed a reboot of Dungeons and Dragons, with Rob Letterman directing. In December 2017, Paramount Pictures picked up the project with a July 23, 2021 release date.