Spoiler Warning: I am going to give a synopsis and my opinions at the very end.
Summary:
Nhagruul the Foul, an evil sorcerer who feared death, entered into a bargain with the demon lords of the Abyss who fashioned his skin into pages, his bones into a cover, and his blood into ink - creating the Book of Vile Darkness. Anyone who peered into the book became evil and foul creatures were allowed to rise up and consume the kingdom of Karkoth for the next 1,200 years. Pelor the God of light, gifted special amulets to a group of pure-hearted warriors known as the "Knights of the New Sun", who channeled the God's power to save the people. In response, three disciples of Nhagruul dismantled the book and hid the pieces. With time the threat of Nhagruul was forgotten and the Knight's power faded.
Under cover of night the Knights renew their vows to Pelor and accept a new member - Grayson (the human paladin), into their ranks. Grayson vows to serve loyally, to forsake all worldly pleasures, to defend the weak and show mercy to the wicked and above all else to never give in to evil and despair. However, Pelor does not grant Grayson his power because the Knights fell from his favor 800 years ago. Grayson later expresses his disappointment over failing to restore Pelor's blessing to his father.
"No less than half of the men here are incapable of housing a human spirit, much less a noble one." -Grayson
Barbarians ambush the Knights that night, taking Grayson's father hostage and killing everyone else. In the morning, Grayson beseeches Pelor for aid, but the god remains silent.
In the nearest town, Grayson locates the barbarians speaking with a prostitute and offers to pay the prostitute, Carlotta, his gold Pelor amulet in exchange for information about the barbarians, but she gives the information up willing, saying that her brother used to be a knight of Pelor. The barbarians turn out to be the hired mercenaries of someone called Lord Shathrax, who is searching for a horn. Before meeting with the barbarians in the "Green Dragon Inn" Grayson purchases a wicked blade and a bag of holding (among other things) from "The Adventurer's Vault" shop using money "collected from the Knights".
"Not all evils can be fought with a sword." -Carlotta
In exchange for killing one of their own members in cold blood (a half-elf), Grayson earns a place in the barbarian's group, which is comprised of Akordia (Shadar-kai sorceress), Bezz (human Vermin Lord), Seith (human assassin), and Vimak (Goliath barbarian). They follow a map to the horn's location, however, the area guarded by a red dragon (actually a fire-breathing wyvern). The barbarians wait until the beast has eaten its fill of human flesh, much to Grayson's dismay, before Bezz uses his eye to search the lair. The eye is severed by a trap (I don't know how it triggered) and restored upon returning to his head.
Upon hearing Bezz's anguished screams the "dragon" attacks. Grayson assists Akordia in bringing rubble down on the beast's head, earning him her respect. The group retrieve the horn but then mistake Grayson's rescuing of the survivors for slave gathering and 'liberating of the weak' (human sacrifices). With a little help from Bezz, Grayson manages to convince the group to take the "prisoners" back to the town of Little Silver for a reward.
The dragon/wyvern may be a "Nhagruul dragonspawn" - a creature from the Book of Vile Darkness source book. They were created in a laboratory from stolen dragon eggs. The deformed wizard that made them was eventually consumed by the book.
Grayson and Akordia spend the night together in Little Silver while Bezz needlessly torments children and Seith steals back everything they had returned to the town. Though initially hailed as heroes by the townspeople, in the morning they find the gates have been locked by the mayor who discovered several of his treasury guards slain. Grayson manages to compromise with the mayor by allowing the town to keep half of the treasure.
"Anyone stupid enough to pledge their lives to a god that doesn't care deserves what they get!" -Grayson
Never one to take the peaceful approach, Bezz blows up the the mayor,
initiating a massacre of the entire town. Enraged by the incident,
Grayson curses out his god. Akordia gives Grayson time to think about
joining her in Gloomwrought or continuing to travel with Seith as his
valet to deliver the horn to Lord Shathrax.
That night, Grayson
poisons Vimak with a spiked beverage and then places the body along with
Little Silver's treasure into his bag of holding and disposes of it all
in the nearby lake. With both the treasure and the goliath missing in
the morning the band assumes treachery. Seith takes Grayson as a
hostage, demanding the horn for himself. Bezz kills Seith with a
scorpion sting, prompting Seith to beg for mercy from Grayson who
decides to leave him to die.
The remaining trio take the horn to a lock in the woods, and using the horn as a key, summon a ravenous slaymate. To prove themselves of evil soul and thus worthy of obtaining the book's cover, they allow the slaymate to feed off of their negative energy. The undead creature is pleased with the morally bankrupt Bezz and Grayson's unlawful deeds. However, when Akordia's turn comes around her blossoming love for Grayson fails the test (because evil people can't feel love apparently) and a helmed horror appears. Bezz is fatally stabbed through the chest, while Akordia and Grayson manage to fell the construct and retrieve the cover of the book from its armor.
The slaymate is easily the best, most messed-up thing in the film. Give it a watch.
Akordia transports herself and Grayson to Lord Shathrax's stronghold in
the Shadowfell. Lord Shathrax is already in possession of the pages of
the book and is in the process of producing ink from the pain of the
purest Knight: Grayson's father (he is never given a name). Grayson is
able to rescue his dad with little resistance, but soon discovers the
stronghold is a collection of floating islands. Knowing the book is
nearing completion, Grayson's father begs for death to halt its progress
but Grayson reminds him that they must be the last beacon of hope; a
statement that momentarily grants Grayson the power of Pelor before Bezz
(somehow still alive) interferes.
Shathrax switches to using Grayson's pain to complete the book. A move that prompts Akordia to turn against Shathrax and his followers by returning Pelor's amulet to Grayson. All persons of evil alignment in the room are destroyed by light beams, except for Bezz who escapes in a cloud of flies. Despite their relationship, Grayson and Akordia part ways, realizing they are too different to ever work together.
Final Thoughts
The Book of Vile Darkness takes some liberties with the property, and occasionally gets things wrong, but overall it is a much more faithful adaptation of the source material than the previous film installments. I also really like the idea of centering the story around a moral character in an immoral world; having them question their faith and find creative ways to pacify the evil people around them without violating their morals. There is a lot of potential there for internal conflict, analysis of human nature, and apostasy and hypocrisy in a world where everyone knows for a fact their gods (both good and evil) exist. Unfortunately the film lacks the nuance and a decent script to make good on that premise. It uses "evil" as an excuse to be an absolute jerk to everyone for no good reason. There is no clever manipulation for personal gain. No evil characters that aren't evil from their own point of view. No ends justify the means. No evil wanting/trying to be better. They're just a bunch of nasty people doing nasty things for reasons. Even the protagonist felt like a jerk from the get-go. Grayson literally starts out whining over his hurt pride because he isn't as special or above all the other sinful knights as he thought. From there Grayson proceeds to rob the dead, give away his god's amulet, murder, and systematically break every oath he swore to uphold the previous day. And yet, for some reason, despite having done very little to redeem himself over the course of his journey, Grayson receives Pelor's blessing. Then the film just ends. No explanation given. I also wasn't a fan of the attempted 'edginess' either; all black outfits with spikes, blood, gore, sex aplenty, badly painted-on tattoos and heavy piercings.In the end the acting and writing is serviceable - not great, but passable. Certainly better than Wrath of the Dragon God, and despite the limited resources at the crew's disposal they managed to get in a few good landscape shots and effects. The slaymate in particular was amazing. Worth a watch for B-movie lovers.Have you seen the Book of Vile Darkness feature film? What were your thoughts on the movie? If you haven't seen it, do you plan to?
Related Reviews:
No comments:
Post a Comment