Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Blistering performances.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This is an adaptation of the German epic poem the Nibelungenleid. The story is about Sigfried, the heir to a kingdom who watched his kingdom destroyed as a boy by the twin kings of Saxony, but was saved by being put on a raft were he was found by a kindly weapon smith. As he grew up he became a swordsman of no uncertain skill, and then one day, after a meteor crashes near his house, he travels out to see what caused the explosion and meets the Queen of Iceland, and after a long battle he subdues her and they fall in love.Later he travels with his adopted father to the local city, the capital of the Kingdom of Burgandy. He learns that they are being terrorised by a dragon who sits on a horde of treasure. He goes out and kills the dragon, and after killing it, bathes in its blood, and thus becomes invulnerable, with the exception of a section of his back where a leaf landed. When he discovers the treasure, he learns that it belongs to the dead, the Nibelungs, and that it is subject to a curse, but he lays claim to it, and takes it with him back to Burgund.This is only the first half of the film, and as you can see the plot is very complex. Not only is there this treasure (which is cursed) there is also a love triangle, deception, betrayal, and innocent murder. This story is a tragedy, and Sigfried is the tragic hero. However, Brunhild, the queen of Iceland is also tragic in her own right, however she never did anything wrong. It was because the sister of the King of Burgundy fell in love with Sigfried and used magic to take his love for herself.Tolkien took a lot of ideas for his story and his realm from this (and other) tales, but the main theme of Lord of the Rings, that is the cursed ring and the desire to possess it, comes directly from this tale. The desire is the possess the treasure for oneself, but possession of this treasure breeds envy and jealousy. When the Twin Kings learn of the location of this treasure, they raise an army and travel to Burgundy to forcefully take it for themselves.This film is divided into two sections, but then again it was originally released as a mini-series, which is not surprising because the movie is three hours long. However, it seems that the first half is about Sigfried's rise, while the second half is about his fall, and his fall is bad and hard indeed. It turns out that the King of Burgundy is also in love with Brunhild, but he is nowhere near as skilled in battle as Sigfried. By this time Sigfried is no longer in love with Brunhild (witchcraft has turned his heart away from her) and Sigfried agrees to disguise himself so that first he might defeat her so that the king may marry her, and then he does it again to get her into bed. She knows that something is up, but it is not until she is mocked before the church by Sigfried's wife when she realises that she has been betrayed.However, it is not Sigfried that betrayed her, but his wife. She has poisoned him so that he may no longer love Brunhild, and in her guilt, she withdraws from the world and dies a lonely woman. However, by the time that everything has been revealed, it is too late to do anything about it. Sigfried has been murdered and the damage has been done, so in a tragic set of circumstances, the show comes to an end, while the treasure is thrown into the Rhine, never to be seen from again.When I first saw this film I wasn't all that sure about it, but as soon as I discovered that it was the Nibelungenleid I really came to appreciate it. In a way I first thought that it was simply another Lord of the Rings rip off, but it is not. In fact, the story that this film ripped off (a lot of the story has been left out) is the same story that Lord of the Rings ripped off. That does not mean that Lord of the Rings was a bad book, it was not, but then neither was this a bad movie.

After shelling out lots of dollars to sit and watch some of the latest romantic comedies, I decided it was time for a little indulgence. Surfing the net I casually caught a still from a film about a ring and dwarfs. The charter's name in the caption was Brunhilde. I thought to myself, that sounds familiar.Well, it looks like someone finally took a crack at bringing Wagner's ring cycle to film format, only this time shot as a Movie of the Week for TV audiences instead of as a feature film for theatrical release. With that in mind, I have some observations to make: For a TV film it gets a passing grade, but only just. I remember ABC's "Movie of the Week", and seeing all kinds of popular TV and film stars being dragged into projects that would be shown once on the network to garnish ratings, and then vanish into the ether to be only shown on Sunday afternoons or late night shows before the national anthem and test pattern. Well, that's kind of what we got here.Only "Curse of the Ring" gives the audience some very high production values in terms of art direction, but not much else. We see the Nordic and Germanic setting of the tale, and are given some decent support cast members, but the two leads nearly slay themselves as they deliver lines with as much enthusiasm as a local weatherman telling us about the latest cold front. The acting from Benno Furman was that difficult to watch. Kristanna Loken wasn't much better, but at least her character had some fire in her. Benno walks through the project like a star eyed school boy who's concentrating on remembering his lines, all the while Kristanna is doing her best to tell future directors that she actually can act in spite of the collagen in her lips and a blonde dye job that would have put a 1950's pinup to shame.Seriously, there's lots of visuals to be proud of here for what the project is. The SFX are quite impressive for a low scale TV production, and the amount of energy and care that went into the art direction is also something of note, but the two leads are as flat as a local theatre troop being recruited as extras for that Hollwood production that rolled into town. Their acting is that bad... or worse.Had the producers pumped a few more dollars into this thing, and cast not necessarily well known talent, but competent talent into the roles, and then re-aired the project several times, then guaranteed this thing would have made its sponsors proud, and then some by boost DVD sales. As it stands now this thing is only five bucks to buy on the open market, and believe you me there's a couple of reasons for that; they are Furman and Loken.Technically, other than the art direction, the shots are simply okay. Better lensing as well as overall direction could have saved this thing, and pushed into beyond its niche, and into the realm of general audiences appreciating a well crafted and acted film. As it stands now it simply appeals to the Tolkien and D&D crowd. And again, this didn't need to be so, but the film is what it is.Dramatically the film tries to go into the realms of love and betrayal, and we get a taste of that by virtue of the story. Even Loken starts to shine a little as an actress when she does her scenes that address this concept, but we're weighed down by the fact that nobody seems to really care about the lines they're reciting. Well, perhaps that's unfair, because most of the supporting cast do an okay job.Overall I'm glad I saw it finally, but it's not something I'd readily recommend.Definitely watch at your own risk.

In this Sunday of raining I started to watch TV Italian TV after lunch, and "Ring Of the Nibelungs" seemed to be the only acceptable thing to watch. I don't watch much TV and most of all fantastic movie for children as I wrongly thought this was at the beginning. First of all this may not be movie for children. On the other hand I realized it was not poor in any sense. It tells the story of Eric, a blacksmith, who goes to fight the dragon, wash himself with his blood, making his skin invincible, and take to his own kingdom its damned gold. This challenge will be the beginning and not the end for him, specially after he knows that he is Siegfried, heir of a kingdom, and that he can fight and marry queen Brunhild of Island. They both love each other. Well directed, it never get boring, and most important banal, or childish. All the actors made a good job, specially, I think, the beautiful Kristanna Loken, and king Gunther, Samuel West. You won't see great things in here. It is simply well done. After this afternoon it goes on my favorite's movie list. A very nice movie.

Rating a movie cannot simply ignore the budget and the production values. This is a TV product (mini-series, whatever )with B or C-lead actors and it is EXTREMELY GOOD for what it is, compared to billionaire Hollywood productions with (supposedly) AAA+ actors paid millions each. Photography is the best thing I suppose; Uli Edel does another very good job. For what it is, it ought to get 10/10. Lead actor Furmann gives me the feeling of a young Liam Neeson ( I wouldn't be surprised if that resemblance had impressed casting directors ); Julian Sands seems a re-edition of the Nottinghan sheriff from Robin Hood (the scar,the slimy demeanor etc ); the first scenes (the castle under siege, the medieval armors etc ) seem right out of Excalibur and a great liberty for times when a Roman Emperor was supposed to still be in power. Samuel West as king Gunther is unconvincing...his face doesn't fit the character...completely miscast. Loken is one of the most credible, along with Witt. A great TV product worth rubbing elbows with AAA+ productions like Lord of the Rings. Great courage in filming and adaptation of the real legend, instead of fantasy junk books 'inspired' by the same (originality is dead, eh?). I just dream of what would Edel have come up with with a LOTR budget... Von Sydow does a nice cameo part and he's among the best of the bunch. Overall, I recommend it.