Age of the Dragons

Stars: Danny Glover, Corey Sevier, Sofia Pernas, Vinnie Jones, David Morgan, John Kepa Kruse, Larry Nagby

Director: Ryan Little

Moby Dick with dragons: the concept is intriguing. But Herman Melville's tale of an obsessive hunter never was the most filmable of novels (as John Huston found out) and here the yarn is too often boring in between its bursts of action.

It's nicely set, though, in icy wastes, as adventurer Ishmael (Sevier) and his partner Queequeg (Kepa Kruse) join the crew of the ironclad Pequod as it prepares to go on a protracted dragon hunt, the plan being to kill the creatures for their valuable vitriol.

Of course, there's a girl (the sultry Pernas) in this version, and a crew close to mutiny, as the captain, Ahab (Glover) is prepared to ignore their mission in his quest to find and kill the great white dragon that devoured his sister many moons ago,

Performances, including Jones as a pipe-chewing harpooner, are painted in broad brushstrokes, with Glover chewing the snowbound scenery as a one-eyed Ahab.

David Quinlan

USA 2010. UK Distributor: Metrodome. Colour by Pal.
91 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 02 Mar 2011