The Dragonphoenix Chronicles: Indomitable (2015)

Director: Thanos Kermitsis

Cast:Yannis Roumbulias, Constantina Georganta, Georgia Giannakoudi

Synopsis: A savage warrior escapes slavery and hunted by his former masters, begins a perilous journey back to his homeland and his wife.

When it comes to the Greek film industry, I guess you have to admire anyone who can complete production of a movie in the midst of the unparalleled economic turmoil the country has suffered over the past few years. Apparently, The Dragonphoenix Chronicles: Indomitable was made for just 10,000 Euros over a period of more than a year, with director Thanos Kermitsis and his crew filming mostly at weekends. You’d expect a movie with such an inauspicious back story to be something of a wreck but, while Dragonphoenix is no classic, it’s a game, heartfelt attempt to provide the kind of old-fashioned fantasy epic that probably went out of fashion in the late 1980s.

The story is nothing new. An enslaved warrior called Dragar (Yannis Roumboulias, on whose comic series the film is based) escapes his shackles shortly after being purchased by a General as a present for his daughter, Valeria (Constantina Georganta). He takes Valeria hostage, and with the General and his men in pursuit, begins the arduous journey back to his home and wife. To be fair to Kermitsis and Roumboulis, who co-wrote the screenplay with John Tsouvelekis, the plot does take off in an unexpected direction once Dragar is in flight, touching on Greek myths while throwing in a touch of incest and a host of demons, and there’s no denying that Dragonphoenix is a much better film than it really deserves to be.

That doesn’t mean it’s not without its faults, many of which seem to be the curse of the cheap moviemaker. Kermitsis constantly struggles to make a small number of extras look like a lot of people during crowd and battle scenes, and the swordfights, while acceptable, inevitably lack the finesse of movies with higher production values. And even though they’re dressed in reasonably convincing costumes, many cast members look like customers plucked from the nearest Starbucks rather than genuine residents of an ancient land. Nevertheless, Roumboulis, with his brooding eyes buried beneath black make-up and a heavy brow, makes an entirely convincing warrior, (whom the screenplay, perhaps wisely, gives little to say), and Georganta an alluring heroine.

(Reviewed 5th November 2015)