DVD Review: Attack of the Gryphon

By Frankie Dees Apr 2, 2007, 15:32 GMT

Attack of the Gryphon follows the feud between princely brothers, Delphus and Lock. The feud eventually tears the once great kingdom of Vallon into two.  Centuries later, the warring kingdoms of Delphi and Lockland remain embroiled in perpetual battle. ...more

“An Epic Tale of Myth and Legend,” so says the back of the DVD, is what people will expect of ‘Attack of the Gryphon’, a low-budget sword & sorcerer debacle which made its rather appropriate debut on the Sci-Fi Channel (where it was simply called ‘Gryphon’).

My creed on low-budget films of this sort is that their almost always amalgams of much-better films and ‘Attack of the Gryphon’ doesn’t disappoint. Ripping pages from a ridiculous amount of sources that includes but is not limited to Tristan & Isolde, Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, and with a touch of spice from Harryhausen, we arrive at this embarrassing, stolid, piece of clichéd trash without one iota of anything that made the above work or any stand-alone wit or cleverness of its own.

The narrative could very well be the plot of any number of videogames…but probably worse. As our “epic tale” begins, we have two brothers hording over an ancient land. Pitted against each other, the kingdom has been rife with civil war for years. It seems one side has finally gotten the edge and could prove to be the victor if it wasn’t for a nasty sorcerer Armond (Larry Drake) who is called in from the loser’s side to summon a supposed mythical beast, an ancient protector of the land – the gryphon, a winged creature with a falcon-like head which sits upon a body situated with four talon-enhanced legs.

Armond, however, is one of those sorcerer’s who has a bit of a power issue (whaa?...a sorcerer intent on evildoing?), so along with his pet gryphon and two female sidekicks who looked like they just escaped a elementary stage production of the WWE, he plans on taking over both kingdoms. Leave it to the son of one brother, Prince Seth of Delphi (Jonathan LaPaglia) and a daughter of the other brother, Princess Amelia of Lockland (Amber Benson) to begrudgingly team up together to find the Draconian Pike, the only weapon able to destroy the Gryphon, and ultimately defeat the malevolent Armond while, could it be?...are they falling in love?

The film might have worked a little better for me had it not been completely humorless but for the filmmakers to expect audiences to take this film seriously is a major miscalculation. Earnest, stone-faced line reading after line reading was just too much to bear for a film of this quality and to match that with the emergence of the Gryphon, a CGI creation that looks like it would be more in place in a…hmmm, no the original Playstation is too good, let’s say a Sega CD game from 1992, about put me over the edge.

The film is not all bad, though, with the good only highlighting the film’s many faults. The location shooting in Romania looks surprisingly good with enough murky forests and castles to provide a reasonably effective backdrop, with set and costume design also following suit rather competently. If it wasn’t for that damn, silly-looking Gryphon who shows up more than it should, one could be fooled into thinking they were actually watching a film that wasn’t made for a budget hovering around the price of a full tank of gas in Los Angeles.

The acting ranges from really bad to just plain bad, but the cast isn’t bad, just ill-used. Amber Benson (who most would know as Tara the lesbian on ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is okay but generates little chemistry with Jonathan LaPaglia (‘The District’ and Anthony’s brother) who seems like he stumbled into this world through a time warp (I half expected Bruce Campbell to show up any second with a chainsaw attached to his arm…or was that wishful thinking?).

Larry Drake continues his scenery-chewing with gusto along with little skill although genre stalwart Sarah Douglas (Superman II, Conan the Destroyer) manages to convince. The acting would hardly matter regardless because as soon as the Gryphon shows up, they might as well be performing Shakespeare with Big Bird.

The film is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and is enhanced for widescreen televisions (But, darn, if I didn’t want to see the Gryphon in HD). Extra features include a few previews from other Sony Picture releases with, as luck would have it, absolutely nothing else.

That the film made its debut on the Sci-Fi Channel where it could be viewed for free (still too much), I can’t imagine anyone ponying up even some rental dollars to check this out but if you’re hardcore ‘Buffy’ or B-movie fantasy flick buffs, then you might be somewhat entertained. I, however, was not entertained in the least and have only but Grey Goose, another mythical feathered creature to thank for providing me with the power to confront…the gryphon.

Attack of the Gryphon is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.