Downloads and Dragons: Look what they've done to Fantasy, ma - Page 3
© Michael Martinez
People are still up in arms over Jackson's changes to Tolkien's story, but it's hard to say what changes he's made despite all the spy and news reports we've had because the cutting room has yet to impose its hand on the crafting of what promises to be one of the greatest fantasy film sets of all time. It will be the cutting room more than anything else which determines if that promise is kept.
For better or worse, "Dungeons and Dragons" is beyond salvaging or destroying now. Maybe a few changes can be made, but the meat of the movie is in place and it's not likely to be replaced. The story took years to craft, and the two writers (as anyone who has kept up with DnDMovie.Com knows) had to go through a lot of trite, rejected ideas before they came up with a plausible storyline. Their adventure plays out just like my favorite role-playing games. There are reluctant heroes, moments of doubt, dangerous quests for talismans of power (well, one), a neat-looking maze, lots of highly skilled men-at-arms to kill, and dragons.
I read somewhere on the Internet that the only thing missing from Peter Jackson's movies is a good, old-fashioned Tolkien dragon (actually, his dragons weren't old-fashioned at all, but maybe that's something to discuss in another article). I suppose Peter could surprise us and toss in a CGI dragon somewhere, but I'd hate to see that happen. The dragons weren't important at the end of the Third Age. Whatever Sauron may have hoped to do with them, he didn't do it. It would be gratuitous to insert a dragon in "The Lord of the Rings". But not in "Dungeons and Dragons".
Which brings me back to the dialogue. Today's young audiences will identify with the characters of Ridley (Whalin) and Snails (Wayans). These two thieves sound like they could come out of any modern story setting with swank, cool thief-talk and thief-attitude. That attitude is exactly the kind of stuff I've seen many a DnD player display through his or her character. Young, tight, cool. Thieves are cool in gaming. I don't know why. I don't think I've ever played one. The closest I ever came was a brash rogue who was into athletics.
The dialogue fits the genre and it's a lot better than the pseudo-gooky drivel a lot of people resort to when they try to speak in archaic idioms.
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