Dr. Mordrid - Master of the Universe: one of those video tapes I'd never part with. You don't necessarily have to be an admirer of Jeffrey Combs ("Herbert West - Re-Animator", Weyoun on DS9) to have fun with this nice little fantasy popcorn flick.
Most convincing cast member is Yvette Nipar, who really does a good job in this piece of sword and sorciery. Sort of Scully meets Kidman, she's a much welcomed change from the bimbos usually haunting movies of that genre.
While bad guy Kabal (Brian Thompson) looks like a retired Wrestler who couldn't part with his stage outfit, Jeffrey Combs tries his best to be a romantic hero. Well. He sure looks yummy, but then, he always does. But he just ain't no hero. Let him play villains, treachery vorta and mad scientist, even let him do comedy, for he's got an outstanding comedy talent - but don't let the man do the swoonies. Definitely one of his weaker performances; he looks like he never really knows how to move or where to stand. Not entirely his fault - even gods would have failed on this script!
But don't let this keep you away from renting this movie next time you're at your local video store. It's a fine B-movie, in the classical sense. You get blue jumpsuits with capes, giant jewellery, cheesy sets, who could ask for more? Low budget, but good entertainment, with some cool stop-motion effects, causing a bout of nostalgia as they'll remind you on some Harryhausen classics from the 50ies. More unreal dinosaurs were never seen! SFX directly from the desk of Ed Wood.
As an extra for all fans of Stargate SG-1, we get to see Jay Acovone as Tony Gaudio, a non-stop-gum-chewing cop.
Jeffrey about the movie: "It borrows heavily from DR STRANGE [Marvel Comics]. It was a very good experience. I enjoyed making that movie, but I just wish that I had been a little bit more involved in the creation of the character. Although I had been talking with Charlie Band [producer and director] for quite a while, I never got to look at a script, basically until we were about ready to go.
I wish that I had, because i would have liked to have had the character be little bit more active. He could have used a little more humor. I found myself just standing around reacting to what everybody else was doing, as opposed to instigating things myself. That's a very difficult thing to sustain as an actor, because 'act' implies acting - to act, be active. Just to be reacting is not the same thing.
There's talk of a second one. I told Charlie, 'I just hope I'll be a little more involved, instead of standing on the sidelines a lot.' He said, 'Oh, yeah, we'll shoot you out a canon!" |
