AllMovie

Originally called Dark Knight when it was a possible TV series, this joint New Zealand/England production attempts to capitalize on the same sword and sorcery market so successfully mined by Xena: Warrior Princess. You couldn't tell it by the box art, which tries to align it with the much bigger budgeted and scarier Reign of Darkness; there are no flying, fire-breathing dragons in the film, despite the artwork on the cover. Otherwise, this is an action-packed, family-friendly package (but young children would do best to avoid it), with enough sword fights and mystical mumbo-jumbo to keep the target audience happy. Humorless Ben Pullen, who looks like a young, underdeveloped Arnold Schwarzenegger, and CGI monsters that look like they were shot from a video game screen, no doubt were the potential TV series' downfall, but those shortcomings won't sink initial interest among teens.