2024, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) -- Netflix
Of course, the D&D player in me loved it. The rest of me, was mostly OK with it. Its serviceable, it does its job, its a Netflix movie.
Elodie (Millie Bobbie Brownie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) is the daughter of King/Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone, The Gentlemen) and step-daughter of Lady Bayford (Angela Bassett, 9-1-1) in a cold land that has chopped down all its trees. Lord Bayford receives a proposal of marriage to Elodie, from Queen Isabelle of Aurea, and they are invited to the idyllic island to all meet. Yeah, its obvious, Bayford is selling his daughter to keep his kingdom afloat. Its nothing new, and while Elodie doesn't like it, she does get along with Prince Henry, and goes through with it. Nobody seems happy with the deal, not even her step-mother, but what has to be done, has to be done.
The final ritual of the marriage just looms of doom, and we know what is happening, even if we came into the movie cold, with no exposure to the trailers. I mean, the opening sequence setup the fact there is a dragon. There is a cave on a cold mountain, a pact of blood on the other side of a crevasse. A crevasse into which Prince Henry tosses Elodie. Time to feed the dragon.
Of course, Elodie is resourceful and strong-willed, and has no intention of dying down there, despite finding evidence that LOTS of girls have gone before her. Many survived the fall, many were resourceful, but none lived to escape. Elodie will. The dragon herself was also wronged so many years ago and finally comes to see Elodie's way, so they can both escape the mountain and burn the establishment down around them.
My favourite bit was hearing the dragon (Shohreh Aghadashloo, The Expanse) speak for the first time; now THAT is the voice for a dragon! The dragon itself was done fine, but I didn't buy the fact that a dragon could be burned by her own fire.
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