Psycho's Movie Reviews #195: Draginheart: Vengeance (2020)

Dragonheart: Vengeance is a 2020 American–British–Romanian fantasy adventure film directed by Ivan Silvestrini. It is the third direct-to-video prequel of the 1996 film, Dragonheart. The film begins before the events of Dragonheart: Battle for the Heartfire, but ends after them. It was released on Netflix, DVD, and Blu-ray on February 4, 2020.

Plot

In the years following Drago and Gareth's bonding, the seven dragons they raised left to different lands; one of them, a female named Siveth, travelled to Wallachia. The kingdom and its ruler, King Razvan, initially welcomed Siveth; however, after he's wounded in battle, Siveth refused to share her heart with him, so the king exiled her. Twenty or thirty years after, Lukas, a young farmer, sees savage raiders: The Bear, The Wolf, The Snake, and The Scorpion, kill his family. After losing his parents and house to them, Lukas leaves on a quest for revenge. Lukas goes to the city where King Razvan rules, begging for help, only to get turned down. Later, a swashbuckling mercenary, Darius, approaches Lukas, offering his service to hunt the murderers. A brawl breaks out between Darius and another mercenary group, forcing Lukas to flee. He learns from a blacksmith he meets that Siveth might help him.

Lukas travels deep into the countryside to find Siveth, offering her a bag of crop seed as payment. Realizing that Lukas wants vengeance instead of justice, Siveth refuses to help, so Lukas leaves. He soon finds a horse with a saddle and supplies to aid him in his journey. Darius, who followed him, teaches Lukas how to fight. Pursuing The Bear first, Darius and Lukas follow his trail and discover that Siveth has travelled with them, disguised as Lukas's horse. Darius leaves after a heated argument with Siveth, causing her and Lukas to face The Bear and his band of raiders. While trying to kill Lukas during the fight, The Bear falls to his death, pleasing Lukas much to Siveth's dismay.

They later subdue The Wolf. Lukas threatens to kill him, but Siveth says The Wolf is more valuable alive, so they take him captive when he agrees to lead them to The Snake and Scorpion. The Wolf keeps his word but, as Darius blunders into the ambush, he escapes, losing an arm to Siveth's ice breath. Despite this, they capture The Snake, and Lukas learns Siveth and Darius are bonded. Questioning what to do with their prisoner, Siveth tells Lukas to spare her and take her back to town to face justice, while Darius says to kill the raider; to dissuade Darius, Siveth explains why she shared her heart with him. When Darius was a child, the king started a war to bolster his popularity and distract people from his corrupt dealings; the king got wounded in battle while Siveth tried to prove his corruption. The king had his cart driver run Darius's parents off the road during his return home, killing them. Siveth then shared her heart with Darius to save him, leading to her refusal to help Razvan and her banishment. She kept the truth from Darius to protect him. Darius reluctantly agrees to spare the Snake, having discovered the raiders were receiving messages.

After imprisoning The Snake, Darius learns King Razvan is behind the raiders' attacks, ordering them to kill his subjects to prevent starvation because he didn't prepare for food shortages. Meanwhile, Lukas, with Siveth's help, flirts with Oana, the town healer, after meeting her earlier. The Scorpion returns for The Snake and frees her, poisoning Oana's father, the town's jailer, and setting his house ablaze to cover their escape; Siveth uses her ice breath to douse the flames and regroups with Darius and Lukas. Darius tells them his discovery, so Siveth tries to retrieve the raiders' orders from the king's guards who took them. As Siveth uses her shapeshifting to try and reclaim the evidence, Lukas and Darius pursue The Snake and Scorpion, wandering into an ambush. During the fight, The Scorpion poisons Lukas, and The Snake further wounds him in battle. Darius also gets injured, and Siveth abandons her mission to save Lukas and Darius after seeing them in trouble through their bond. Darius kills The Scorpion, and Siveth kills The Snake. Lukas apologizes for letting revenge darken his heart. Darius and Siveth also reconcile, and he begs her to save Lukas. Siveth takes Lukas to the monastery that raised Darius. Weeks pass, and Lukas recovers with Oana's help. Razvan and a crowd of townsfolk confront Lukas and Siveth shortly after; the king orders Lukas to be surrendered for crimes he didn't commit and orders Siveth to resume her exile. However, Siveth refuses and calls Razvan out for his treason. Then Darius and the recaptured Wolf appear, with The Wolf confessing about Razvan's crimes. Siveth offers her protection to anyone else willing to speak up; more people come forward from the king's guards and council to confess to Razvan's corruption, leading to his and The Wolf's imprisonment.

In the time that follows, Siveth is welcomed back into society and shares the crop seed she saved to end Razvan's famines. Lukas rebuilds his home, beginning a relationship with Oana. Now recognized by the kingdom as bonded with Siveth, Darius lives a happy life among the people. Darius reflects on Siveth's teachings, acknowledging that she showed him and Lukas the path to happiness, friendship, and love.

Production

Production

Development of the script for the fifth movie began directly after Battle for the Heartfire's completion.

Filming

Filming began in early November 2018 in Romania and ended on December 5th. Locations include Râșnov Fortress, the volcanic crater in Racoș, and Bran Castle also in Mogoșoaia Palace. Post-production ended on September 21, 2019.

Visual Effects

The VFX company returned to do the CGI effects after working on the previous two films.

Music

The score was composed by Mark McKenzie, after previously composing the score for Dragonheart: A New Beginning, The Sorcerer's Curse, and Battle for the Heartfire. Like the previous films, the score includes Randy Edelman's original Dragonheart theme from the first film.

All tracks are written by Mark McKenzie.

My Review

I did not have high expectations for this movie, considering the pedigree of the cheapo fantasy flicks usually found on streaming services.

Well, I was pleasantly ambushed! Some of these low ratings make me sad & I feel these reviewers are either too jaded or too addicted to spectacle. Yes there aren't many "epic battles" or savage dragon attacks. The CGI effects are inconsistent at best. Sometimes the dragon looks believable, sometimes it looks bad.

If you can see past its shortcomings though, Dragonheart Vengeance has what really counts - a good story, a good screenplay & HEART. Simple enough for kids to grasp but with enough quips & twists to keep adults interested in what would otherwise be a standard revenge tale. Writer Matthew Feitshans delivered a good script here with some memorable lines.

The cast are great and genuinely seem happy to be involved. The complaints about the acting hold no water for me. The actors are fine, especially Joseph Millson's rakish Darius and Helena Bonham Carter who could deliver a solid performance from a bathroom stall.

Ivan Silvestrini's direction and editing choices did a lot to make me forget the low budget. This is a good looking movie that I got lost in, sometimes reminding me of various fantasy games I've played (like Skyrim). The director and crew must also be fans of RPG's because I noticed a couple of easter eggs only gamers would catch. There's also a cheeky reference to a classic 80's swords & sandal film that made me chuckle.

I'm actually giving 8 stars mostly because the others rated this very unfairly for its kind. It is actually one of the best films i ve watched in this genre. It is a perfect example of medieval fantasy adventure with a positive pastoral folk tale feeling. It is not like all hell breaks loose, so it is not so dark, depressing or thrilling. It is even a nice children's movie. Like the ones from 70s and 80s that i enjoyed in my childhood. But i never got bored even by the dialogues at my current age. All the characters are very natural, sweet and lovable. The story is not a total cliche but not trying hard to be very different either. Which is usually annoying. No character has an epic superpower that is unstoppable (except the dragon of course) Everything is very naturally balanced and realistic. Including the sets, costumes, people. There are beautiful animals as well. Its just like a real local story with a dragon in it. Production quality is not so bad for this budget. Acting is believable and cute. It is not heavy like Hamlet after all. The lines and acting is all natural, casual and humorous. So if you like medieval fantasy movies and it doesn't have to be epic, dark and too serious, you will possibly like this. 8.5/10