Benedito Dias Rodrigues Infinitely superior fantasy movie from those days where the cinema was the real cinema...Dragonslayer has a very clever plot using all elements and formula to reach a success,an Old Sorcerer played by Ralph Richardson is very convincing...the young hero has a natural charisma,the villain is bad than ever,the girl is beauty,and one most funny character is Sydney Bromley as an old gentle Hodge who is unfortunately killed in the travel,by the way all cast is marvelous and finally the Dragon is unique well made using the tools allowed that time...the atmosphere of fear is terrific,the final battle is great example to new ones!!fantastic fantasy!!! Resume: First watch: 2011 / How many: 3 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.5

Adam Foidart You have to give credit to "Dragonslayer" for what it does right; the special effects are quite good, the principal characters are compelling and the story is never predictable. However, in its efforts to turn a medieval wizard & dragon story on its head the movies proves itself to be needlessly dark and depressing. The Kingdom of Urland lives in a constant state of terror because of a 400-year-old dragon named Vermithrax Pejorative and must sacrifice young virgins to it in order to save themselves from a fiery death. Not terribly happy with this deal, the King sends for the last sorcerer to come to the kingdom's aid. What he gets instead is the sorcerer's apprentice. The story follows Galen (Peter MacNicol) who has only limited magical skills, little confidence in himself and all-out hostility from King Even with the help of a young woman (Caitlin Clarke), there isn't much hope for the apprentice, particularly with magic clearly dying out in the world.I'm going to start with the positive aspects of the movie. We have not one, but two characters you can really get attached to and genuinely like. You admire Galen for stepping up to the plate and volunteering to confront the dragon, an opponent who is significantly more powerful than he is but must be stopped. This guy knows he's outmatched so he is forced to use his intelligence to confront the beast, sneaking about its lair, using a mix of conventional and magically-enhanced weapons, and sorcery to take on the dragon. Being young and inexperienced, things seldom go right but he never gives up. Another reason that you like him is because he has to face much more than just the dragon, he has many human opponents as well. The king and his guards, they're total jerks. There are some pretty dark revelations about them that makes you want our young hero to win even more.The other character I really like is the young woman who helps Galen. Her character is essential to the plot because she helps our hero at multiple instances and in fact gets the story moving from the get-go. You would expect her character to be a typical damsel in distress considering the wizard combating the dragon that wants virgins thing, but she's actually a tough character that holds her own and in some ways is much more confident and stronger than our actual hero.I also have to give credit for the film's special effects, particularly whenever you get to see full shots of the dragon Vermithrax. The creature is created with puppetry when it comes to the close-ups (to mixed results) and with stop-motion in the full-length shots. The way the creature is revealed is expertly done, with several shots at the beginning teasing you enough that you want to see more, without showing too much and giving away the best part of the movie (the monster itself) too early. When you do see the dragon, the stop-motion effects used to bring it to life are excellent, some of the best I've seen. It ranks as high as the works of masters Willis O' Brien and Ray Harryhausen. The film also has numerous complex ideas and themes throughout and like I said before, it subverts many stereotypes of the genre so you can't see where the movie is going at any point.That brings me to what works less well with the movie. It's simply so dark. There are so many deaths during the movie that it brings you down. It's not like the deaths I'm complaining about are heroic deaths either, they just feel kind of petty. Sympathetic characters are brutally murdered for no real reason. It's not even to make the villains seem really evil or to add a tragic back story kind of thing, they're just written in to be slaughtered. If the intention was to make the odds against our hero feel overwhelming there was no need to do so. Another major negative point towards the movie is a revelation about Galen's master at the very end. If it had been tweaked just a little bit, where it was discovered by our hero and then implemented by him, it could have been a really clever plot development. To me it felt like a needlessly cryptic revelation that was as bad as those rage-inducing scenes in romantic comedies where the plot could have been solved within 5 minutes if people would actually talk like human beings. It makes you think that a) that wizard was just too lazy to do the whole thing himself b) he really put all his eggs in one basket in hoping nothing would go wrong in this convoluted plan of his and c) that if anyone is to blame because of the fiasco in the kingdom, it's the wizard! The film then ends on a tone that sort of just tells you that your dreams of an awesome, uplifting world where magic, sorcery, beautiful princesses to be rescued and fantastical monsters to be slain by valiant heroes... those are stupid thing to believe in. Get back to reality, because the movie is over buddy!I'm torn with this picture because this is the second time I've seen it and I really didn't like it at first. I thought it was depressing but well made and the ending was bad. I still think that's the case, but there are also many good points and it does make it worth a watch. So here's what I recommend. Watch it once, and think what you want of it, but then watch it a second time, like several months later when you remember the tone of it, but not too many of the details. With lowered expectations and forward knowledge of what happens overall, you will be able to focus your attention on the positive aspects and actually enjoy the film. (On DVD, June 20, 2014)

Fluke_Skywalker Though a critical and commercial disappointment upon its release, 'Dragonslayer' has had quite a reputation renaissance in the years that followed, currently sporting an %85 fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 6.7 rating here on IMDb. With numbers like that, I purchased a used copy of 'Dragonslayer' with rather high hopes. Too high as it turned out.'Dragonslayer' features some incredible special f/x; particularly the creation of Vermithrax the dragon, but its paper thin characters get lost within a story that is told without even an ounce of energy or flourish.

pc95 Grew up watching this movie several times during the early/mid 80s, so my review is a little skewed/biased. Recently re-watched it and still enjoyed it for what it was: a fantasy-adventure. The set design and attention to details like spoken Latin, Costuming, Settings (Town and Castle) were very meticulous and competent and the dragon is very well done considering the dates the movie was created. I thought Ralph Richardson, John Hallam, and Caitlin Clarke had the strongest performances in the movie while Peter MacNicol, although energetic, doesn't quite fit the role. The music at times is good, but at other times out-of-place. Much of the cinematography is beautiful including backdrops of Scotland. Summarizing, the film seems a bit aloof, and sets up a standard romance - however the winning aspects of the movie are it's look and it's recreation of an Old World Society, Rulership, and melding of black arts (magic), sacrifice, and lottery (apparently mocking it). The script and dialog often is better than average and thoughtful. Fairly Recommended, and although some special effects have shown their age a bit, a good movie.