Dragon Mountain is a 2018 adventure film about a collapse that imprisons three dwarven miners who must now work collectively to combat starvation, despair, and a mysterious creature.
You’re most likely already feeling a little giddy about the promise of this movie from the title alone. I know I was when I screened it. After all, who doesn’t like dragons? And if there were ever a title that conjured a wondrous feeling of anticipation for a return to tales of adventure in a Tolkien-esque land of mist and mystery, Dragon Mountain certainly is it … if not maybe a little too on the nose. However, let me clue you in on a little sleight of hand on the part of the producers of this curious little film and tell you that aside from an obviously tacked on opening of a generally well-animated fearsome dragon soaring atop a crest of high snowy peaks as a noble voice narrates some exposition, there’s not another dragon to be seen or heard from again, with the film set entirely in the bowels of a dark and lonely mine. It feels like a cheat, but is the rest of it worth a look?
In an age when humans are mechanizing, putting machines to work where hands once did the trick, dwarves still labor the old-fashioned way, though they are steadily losing ground, literally and figuratively. Deep in a dimly-lit shaft, three such dwarves, Calcas (John Hutton), Odryd (Brent Bateman) and Brenn (Robert Morgan), find they are trapped by a devastating cave in well into the hollows of mine #347864. Bitter, suspicious, and facing dire uncertainty, they are not alone, finding a human woman named Drusso (Serah Henesey) alone in the catacombs. But more troubling is a spectral beast in the shadows, hissing in the dark, testing their mettle as doom seems unavoidable.
Originally titled The Dwarves of Demrel, director and co-writer Chris Raney‘s feature film debut is a strangely enigmatic experience, a conversationally-driven story lit by torches with three very convincing actors not saying much. It’s full of tight close-ups of steampunk-costumed dwarves in heavy beards, contemplating their fate as they search the tunnels for a way out. Well, sort of. There is the story of the girl, who is masked in a bulbous bug-eyed helmet (humans can’t work like dwarves in these depths) for the length of her short stay, filling in some details on the fate of the two races … and her own. It, like what seems much of the film, is loaded with potential before ending up a bit undernourished.
It’s not really fair to make the comparison to what is obviously its most recognizable influence, The Lord of the Rings, even as it seems to be daring us to do so. Experimental and existential, Dragon Mountain is not trying to be what those movies were, its passions a bit more ambiguous. There are moments that strike very well, looming, dark, suffocating shots that are soaked in dread, challenging us while refusing to bend to convention. I found myself greatly appreciating what Raney was reaching for. And then there are long empty moments of chatter or silence that do little to keep our attention. It’s frustrating.
I like when a filmmaker goes off the rails a bit and does something daring, almost blatantly abandoning the very set of rules we have become all to accustomed too. Kudos to Raney for trying. However, that said, I’m not really sure I can recommend Dragon Mountain, a film that will surely be a slog for fans tricked into expecting some dragon excitement. It has a deeply and quitely distressing ending, one that almost tipped it back on the plus side simply for the guts it took to do it and the imagery in getting us there. However, this is an exercise in patience, and while I feel like there are greater things about this film I might be missing – the metaphorical/authentic demon in the dark per se – as is, this isn’t as significant as it should be.