Dragon oil is a highly prized commodity, and the risky business of dragon hunting is a viable trade for any young man seeking fortune and glory. Ishmael is such a man joining the crew of the Peaquod where he finds himself under the command of Ahab, a man obsessed with finding and killing the White Dragon responsible for his sister’s death.
Moby Dick with dragons sounds like a decent concept for a trashy B-movie. Sadly Age of the Dragons is not even worthy of the rather dubious title of guilty pleasure. It fails to truly embrace its own concept; instead of a boat we have some kind of medieval truck, wouldn’t a flying machine have been not only visually more impressive and lent itself to some more interesting set pieces but a better vessel for dragon hunters? Anyway, the whole thing resembles an episode of the 90s Hercules TV show with budget and acting to match but with the necessary tongue in cheek humour missing. It’s an uninspiring and uninteresting adventure mixing references to Melville’s novel with too few action scenes.
Don’t be fooled by the enticing premise, Age of the Dragons fails to offer the cheap and cheerful fun of low budget genre cinema. There’s precious little in the way of action, instead a focus on boring characters arguing with each other. Even Danny Glover’s hammy performance is not enough to recommend this to anyone. Well, at least Vinnie Jones gets killed off.
