This movie features a large body count. With all the mayhem it's easy to overlook characters that stayed engaging, some funny lines and the beautiful Texas scenery. This is an action movie and every human in the film is either an action hero or a horror victim. There are some satisfying plot culminations, and the action hero subverts a trope through a poker bluff, which takes some mindful writing. Each character who lasted more than a scene had development. Is this movie original? I've never seen a US Marine type guy fight off a horde of Orcs before, and the gun loving human side of me enjoyed the fantasy of a heroic battle an old D&D foe. The movies I'd compare it too have a tragic historical connotation of imperialism such as Zulu. There are too many movies with white protagonists slaughtering hordes of dark skinned people. As this takes place in Texas, it's impossible to separate borderland narratives in the real world from the story of this man protecting a boundary between worlds. This movie is not alone, LOTR sets the standard. This is my gripe with fantasy overall and is not specific to this movie. This movie is a mishmash of genres but is mostly a Western with Fantasy elements. It is very violent, around 1/4th as violent as Rambo 4. There is one scene that is like a tribute to Friday the 13th movies, but generally the violence is Action in nature and not Horror. There are two pulp scenes. There was no sexual violence.
Review of Dragonfyre
