Waste of time

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The first must-see film of the year.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Sadly, the movie does not wholly succeed : it would like to be a window on a far distant, far different time (mostly pre-Christian or not- Christian), but both its knowledge and its imagination fall short. When and where it tries to fill the gaps, it veers too much in the direction of, say, renaissance fairs, cosplay or sword and sorcery. On the plus side, this is a pleasantly clear and understandable introduction to the Nibelungen saga. It whets the appetite and invites the viewers to go on their own voyage of discovery into a world of poetry, myth and history. It also works on its own merits, as a reflection on the difference between real accomplishment and genuine merit on the one hand and pretend heroics on the other hand. It's also a pretty watchable tale of love, treachery and calculation. (By the way, you're not human if you don't want to kick Kriemhilde in the behind.)The music, I suppose, isn't too bad, but it is used too liberally. There are things in our world which have a deeply evocative sound of their own - such as, for instance, a sailing ship moving at considerable speed or a wood filled with eager hunters and hounds - and it's both annoying and redundant to cover such sounds with layers of music.

After shelling out lots of dollars to sit and watch some of the latest romantic comedies, I decided it was time for a little indulgence. Surfing the net I casually caught a still from a film about a ring and dwarfs. The charter's name in the caption was Brunhilde. I thought to myself, that sounds familiar.Well, it looks like someone finally took a crack at bringing Wagner's ring cycle to film format, only this time shot as a Movie of the Week for TV audiences instead of as a feature film for theatrical release. With that in mind, I have some observations to make: For a TV film it gets a passing grade, but only just. I remember ABC's "Movie of the Week", and seeing all kinds of popular TV and film stars being dragged into projects that would be shown once on the network to garnish ratings, and then vanish into the ether to be only shown on Sunday afternoons or late night shows before the national anthem and test pattern. Well, that's kind of what we got here.Only "Curse of the Ring" gives the audience some very high production values in terms of art direction, but not much else. We see the Nordic and Germanic setting of the tale, and are given some decent support cast members, but the two leads nearly slay themselves as they deliver lines with as much enthusiasm as a local weatherman telling us about the latest cold front. The acting from Benno Furman was that difficult to watch. Kristanna Loken wasn't much better, but at least her character had some fire in her. Benno walks through the project like a star eyed school boy who's concentrating on remembering his lines, all the while Kristanna is doing her best to tell future directors that she actually can act in spite of the collagen in her lips and a blonde dye job that would have put a 1950's pinup to shame.Seriously, there's lots of visuals to be proud of here for what the project is. The SFX are quite impressive for a low scale TV production, and the amount of energy and care that went into the art direction is also something of note, but the two leads are as flat as a local theatre troop being recruited as extras for that Hollwood production that rolled into town. Their acting is that bad... or worse.Had the producers pumped a few more dollars into this thing, and cast not necessarily well known talent, but competent talent into the roles, and then re-aired the project several times, then guaranteed this thing would have made its sponsors proud, and then some by boost DVD sales. As it stands now this thing is only five bucks to buy on the open market, and believe you me there's a couple of reasons for that; they are Furman and Loken.Technically, other than the art direction, the shots are simply okay. Better lensing as well as overall direction could have saved this thing, and pushed into beyond its niche, and into the realm of general audiences appreciating a well crafted and acted film. As it stands now it simply appeals to the Tolkien and D&D crowd. And again, this didn't need to be so, but the film is what it is.Dramatically the film tries to go into the realms of love and betrayal, and we get a taste of that by virtue of the story. Even Loken starts to shine a little as an actress when she does her scenes that address this concept, but we're weighed down by the fact that nobody seems to really care about the lines they're reciting. Well, perhaps that's unfair, because most of the supporting cast do an okay job.Overall I'm glad I saw it finally, but it's not something I'd readily recommend.Definitely watch at your own risk.

In this Sunday of raining I started to watch TV Italian TV after lunch, and "Ring Of the Nibelungs" seemed to be the only acceptable thing to watch. I don't watch much TV and most of all fantastic movie for children as I wrongly thought this was at the beginning. First of all this may not be movie for children. On the other hand I realized it was not poor in any sense. It tells the story of Eric, a blacksmith, who goes to fight the dragon, wash himself with his blood, making his skin invincible, and take to his own kingdom its damned gold. This challenge will be the beginning and not the end for him, specially after he knows that he is Siegfried, heir of a kingdom, and that he can fight and marry queen Brunhild of Island. They both love each other. Well directed, it never get boring, and most important banal, or childish. All the actors made a good job, specially, I think, the beautiful Kristanna Loken, and king Gunther, Samuel West. You won't see great things in here. It is simply well done. After this afternoon it goes on my favorite's movie list. A very nice movie.

The blacksmith Siegfried (Benno Fürmann) meets the Queen of Island Brunhild (Kristanna Loken) in the crater of a fallen meteoroid and defeats her in an ax battle. They fall in love for each other and Kriemhild promises to wait for him in her kingdom. Siefried forges a sword using the strange ore; he slays a dragon and baths in its blood to become invincible and wealthy with the Treasure of the Nibelungen. Then he fights and defeats the dwarf Alberich (Sean Riggs) from the Realm of the Nibelungen and gets his magic helmet that makes the user take whatever form he wishes. When Siegfried meets Kriemhild (Alicia Witt), she drops a magic love potion in his wine and he immediately falls in love for her and forgets Brunhild. When Siegfried asks the hand of Kriemhild to her brother King of Burgundy Gunther (Samuel West), he advises that he would accept if Siegfried helps him to win the strong Queen of Iceland Brunhild. Siegfried uses his helmet to defeat Brunhild pretending that he is Gunther and Brunhild accepts to marry him. When the jealous Kriemhild discloses the truth to Brunhild, she leads Siegfried and her kingdom to a tragedy.The saga of Siegfried is certainly one of the most beautiful tales of the old times of pagan gods. In 1924, Fritz Lang released the masterpiece "Die Nibelungen: Siegfried", an impressive movie ahead of time and one of the most beautiful fantasies ever. The made for TV "Ring of the Nibelungs" was a great surprise for me, since it is another wonderful version of the saga of Sirgfried. The story is engaging, developed in a perfect pace and using decent special effects. The cast has great performances, and includes the gorgeous Alicia Witt and Kristanna Loken in the role of the sweet Kriemhild and the strong Brunhild. In the end, this delightful movie is not so powerful as Fritz Lang's masterpiece, but it is a great family entertainment. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "A Maldição do Anel" ("The Curse of the Ring")