Dungeons & Dragons 2: Wrath of the Dragon God

Dungeons and Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God is a 2005 fantasy film directed by Gerry Lively. It is loosely a made-for-TV sequel to the 2000 film Dungeons & Dragons, which in turn was based on the popular role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (or D&D). The only returning actor is Bruce Payne reprising his role as the evil Damodar. DVD release was February 7, 2006.

Story


Damodar, the henchman of the main villain from the first movie, is back with a vengeance. Reborn as an undead creature, due to a curse placed on him by former master Profion, Damodar pursued an evil artifact for a hundred years, one capable of unleashing unstoppable destruction on Ismir and the descendants of those who caused his demise. The movie opens as he finally gets his hands on the artifact, a mysterious black orb, and frees himself from the undead curse.

Soon, Ismir is alerted to the rising of this ancient evil. Berek, a fighter and former captain of the king's guard, now a bored minister of the King, and Melora, his wife, a gifted young sorceress, identify the threat as Faluzure (the dragon god of darkness, death, decay, evil and undeath) soon enough so that action can be taken. The King asks Berek to assemble a party of experienced adventurers; a group small enough to travel undetected, but strong enough to face powerful enemies. Lux (a barbarian), Dorian (a cleric of Obad-Hai), Ormaline (an elven wizard), and Nim (a rogue) join the former captain of the king's guard.

Fan service
Unlike the first movie, which could be considered medium-budget, this is a low-budget production with unknown actors (the most notorious one being Bruce Payne as Damodar). Also unlike the first movie, many details from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game have been included. The equipment of the adventurers are items which avid gamers will probably recognize (e.g. gem of true seeing, flask of purple worm acid, vorpal sword, ring of the ram, staff of lightning, hammer of smiting, etc...).

The villains have also been designed closely to the D&D canon. As part of the bestiary, one can find an aggressive white dragon, darkmantles, spectres, magmins, lizardfolk (one can be seen restoring Damodar's arm), and a lich. Special mention must be given to Klaxx the Malign (the lich), who is behaving how a lich should according to common D&D behavior -- staying close to the action for a potential piece of power or knowledge to grab, but not exactly taking any risk. There were also dead drow hanging from the ceiling and whose blood was used for Damodar's "dinner". Juiblex was also mentioned, but the demon lord wasn't actually in the film.

The spells cast by wizards are accurate renditions of the ones from the roleplaying game, namely that spells are not cast at will, but must first be memorized and in limited amounts.

There are also a number of references to classic D&D modules (Castle Inverness, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, etc.) in the film.

Of special note is the commentary track which is composed of "Lidda," "Krusk," and "Jozan" (iconic characters from the current D&D ruleset) quipping upon the action on the screen.

From quick glimpses in the DVD's Interview with Gary Gygax, the heroes are shown to have the following stats in the D&D game: Berek (LG male human fighter 7) Lux (CG female human barbarian 7) Nim (CG male human rogue 7) Dorian (N male human cleric 7 [Obad-Hai]) Ormaline (N female elf wizard 9) Melora (NG female human cleric 1/wizard 4 [Obad-Hai])

Reactions
Despite the film's increased attention to its source material (to the point that numerous illustrations from the D&D core rulebooks were used in the film) it still met with poor reviews, despite this, many still consider it to be of higher-quality than other made-for-TV movies such as those made by Sci Fi Pictures original films. Viewer comments tend to agree that the second film was the better-written and conceived of the two, but did not have the budget and special effects of the first film. The visual effects were done by London-based CGI house Cinevision, with an estimated budget of $600,000 for more than 400 shots, double the number originally anticipated.