Mjeteconer Just perfect...

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

houseofjames Coming into this film, I had no pretensions. I am only somewhat familiar with the Midnight RPG that this is based on, and I must admit, the setting is one of the best parts about this deathly slow film. At an hour and forty minutes, it certainly feels its length.Set in a kingdom held under the weight of a near eternal darkness, the bulk of the story follows a 'Legate', a sort of warrior/mage that are the inquisitors of the world, doing the bidding of the godlike 'Darkness'. There is a lot of mythology in the story, way to much for its ambitions. I found the setting to be tantalizing and evocative. The filmmakers used most of their budget on moody VFX shots of cityscapes filled with towers and castles, but left little for the costumes and actors. I swear, most of the actors in the film were culled from the nearest community theater where the film was shot. With the exception of the darkly intriguing Charles Hubbel as the Legate Mag Kiln, none of the actors are interesting in the least.In the end, the film really does try to tell an intrigue laden story, but it is constantly sabotaged by its own ambitions. This story and world may have worked in the hands of a better director, better actors and a more coherent, less busy script. If you're interested, check it out, otherwise skip it.

elmerflp I thought this looked good initially. The setting is a mythical world, not unlike the Tolkien Lord of the Rings trilogy, complete with Orcs. Boy, was I mistaken! After wasting about an hour and a half on this mess, I must relegate it to that select group of bombs which leaves the viewer saying to himself "I just lost 90 minutes of my life which I can never regain." While the sets and costumes are OK, the plot and the acting are as aimless and gruesome as a zombie. I just wish the script writer had shared with the audience what the underlying story was, so we could get a better idea of the origin, purpose, and destination of this tale. At the end of the movie, the viewer has a disappointing realization that the whole film is some sort of prequel, but it sure would have been nice to know this up front. Please, avoid this turkey!

footsore For a low budget film I thought this was actually quite well done. It was 10x the film the Dungeon and Dragon movies were, and makes all the Uwe Boll films look pathetic in comparison *cough*Bloodrayne*cough*.What I particularly liked was they didn't waste a red cent on horribly mediocre stunt work, and pointless fight scenes with silly explosions. They stuck to the story, and clearly knew their limitations. I'd put this film slightly above the much larger budgeted Eragon, and it left me wanting more, not wishing I had the last 2 hours of my life back.I look forward to a sequel to this fanfilm'esquire first attempt, or at least get more substantial directorial work for Christian Petersen.

sindarian Let's start this off with a disclaimer: I am not a professional movie critic. I do not have a degree in fine or preforming arts, and I am in no way involved with the motion picture industry. What I am is a fan of fantasy and science fiction.After watching the latest travesties put forth by the SciFi (sorry the SyFy) Channel, I find this film refreshing.The costuming and cinematography were quite good. The feel of the movie was vaguely creepy and medieval. The intentional under-use of fantasy race main characters was also greatly appreciated.The acting was surprisingly good considering. In looking at the closing credits it looks like they hit up every community theater, ren-fest and college theater department in WI and MN. There was plenty of decent acting in this movie. Academy award no, good, yes.There were even decent special effects. Cut people bleed; monsters sounded creepy; magic was understated but you could tell it was in use. For a film that was not of a 'Hollywood' budget it came together quite well.Now for the only 2 things that I had a problem with. The title and the script.The script manged to keep me involved without being heavy handed on the morals, and it did manage to portray other races as being different and definitely not human without being campy. The feel that most of the characters didn't know what was going on was at first a little trying, but then it helped me identify with the characters. However, the dialog could have been a bit more polished. For example, a dwarven tunnel reference did nothing to help the story and took away from the feel of the movie. Also, the hero's back story was a little weak (but then again there wasn't really time).The title? 'Midnight Chronicles' is a good title but 'Midnight Chronicles – And so it Begins' would have been better.This brings me back to the opening night of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I was sitting in front of a group of stoned rednecks and as the credits rolled one exclaimed: "Tha's it?!?! Whur's da res' of it?!?!" I can now understand his confusion. While just about anyone who can read knows that The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy of books, there is no such well known fact about the Midnight Chronicles. However as an hour into the movie there was still back story emerging, I can't say I was totally surprised by the huge number of plot lines that were still open at the end.Overall, this movie is better than most fantasy movies made in the Hollywood and SyFy machines. Perhaps they could learn from this film. If you like fantasy movies you will like/love this one. If you are expecting explosions, sex, or a conanesque slaughter fest give it a pass.I look forward to the sequel!