Knights of Badassdom
started gaining buzz when it premiered its trailer during a panel at Comic-Con 2011. The majority of attendees had no awareness of the indie film though some
ears perked at the presence of fan favorites like Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Danny Pudi (Community), and Summer Glau (Serenity). The footage received a
rousing reaction from the exact demographics the movie was hoping to hit.
Unfortunately, Knights has been
sitting on the shelf until now thanks to Entertainment One, who are releasing
it on DVD & Blu-ray. Disagreements between director Joe Lynch and the
producers over final cut led to the delay. After viewing Knights, I'm not so sure if Lynch's version would have been a
significant improvement.
Knights is set in
the world of LARPing that's Live Action Role-Playing for the uninitiated. Friendly
folks do battle in a medieval fantasy world with a little help from some foam
weapons and a wealth of imagination. Joe (Ryan Kwanten) used to be a LARPer as
well as a master of Dungeons & Dragons. He once gave Ronny Kwok's (Jimmi
Simpson) paladin a serious case of demonic syphilis. Nowadays, Joe is an
aspiring musician, specializing in doom metal, while working a day job as an
auto mechanic. That's not enough for his girlfriend, Beth (Margarita Levieva),
who wants a boyfriend with some iota of ambition. Joe gets dumped in
humiliating fashion and copes by getting stoned with his best friends Eric
(Steve Zahn) and Hung (Dinklage). He awakens the next morning in armor and
finds a horde of LARPers preparing for the Battle of Evermore.
Joe reluctantly joins in, but the games become far too real
when Eric unknowingly reads from a magical tome with actual supernatural
origins. Eric summons a bloodthirsty succubus that looks exactly like Beth and
starts killing LARPers one by one.
One of the problems with Knights
is Ryan Kwanten. It's not that the Aussie actor gives a bad performance; he's
perfectly fine and feels like a natural fit. However, his character is one of
the least interesting in the picture and he doesn't have the screen presence of
his co-stars. When you're in there with Peter Dinklage, you need a load of
charisma just to stand out. Dinklage (who also served as an executive producer)
is one of the highlights as he essentially parodies Tyrion Lannister. He's
brash and extremely enthusiastic about the whole venture. Zahn and Jimmi
Simpson, as the fussy gamesmaster, are also quite funny in their supporting
roles. Glau joins the fray as the guild's lone female, Gwen, who started
LARPing in order to look after her cousin Gunther (Brett Gipson), an Ivan
Dragon lookalike who remains in character 24/7.
You can't fault any of the actors, many of whom are in the
movie far too briefly, for Knights being
something of a slog. The story starts off promisingly enough, but loses
traction at the midpoint. It's as if screenwriters Kevin Dreyfuss and Matt Wall
just ran out of material. So, we wind up with repetitive sequences in which
nothing of important actually happens. There's also an awkward blend of horror
and comedy where the filmmakers are clearly inspired by Evil Dead with the goofy humor of Renaissance fair speak. At least,
Knights treats its subjects with
respect and never truly ridicules the subculture.
Considering the limited budget, you would think those
involved would be more innovative with the gore and special effects. Instead, they
rely on chintzy CGI that doesn't look at all convincing and a final act monster
looks absolutely ridiculous.
Knights of Badassdom
was an eagerly anticipated release, but when the time came the movie failed to
deliver. Not even the winning cast is enough to elevate the lackluster material
into a film worth recommending.
Rating: * ½ (*****)
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