Attack Of The Gryphon Review by Bobby LePire. Edited by Courtney McAllister.

 

When I say Sci-Fi (or SyFy) Channel movie, a certain kind of movie springs to mind- typically science fiction, fantasy, horror, or a combination thereof (a few even mix all three!), cheap looking effects, a genre name or two, all that jazz. “Attack Of The Gryphon” fits the bill perfectly. But it’s also hypnotically watchable with some stunning set design and good fight scenes.

 

The kingdoms of Lockland and Delphi are at war again, thanks to a centuries long blood feud. Lockland is getting royally beat, and their prince has just been felled. In a desperate act of grief, King Phillip (Adrian Pintea), agrees to let sorcerer Armand (Larry Drake) summon Lockland’s fearsome protector, the gryphon. Unfortunately, Armand has his sights set on the entirety of both kingdoms and attacks both sides with his new pet. Princess Amelia of Lockland (Amber Benson) makes an uneasy truce with Prince Seth of Delphi (Jonathan LaPaglia), so they can uncover the hidden Draconian Pike, made of unicorn horn (isn’t that some sort of crime?). They must hurry, because if Armand and his beast aren’t defeated before the next solar eclipse, the evil sorcerer will become immortal.

 

The plot is a basic fantasy quest, tied together nicely by having the two warring clans lay down arms and help each other. Tim Cox’s script manages to build a believable fantasy world, but the dialogue veers wildly from genuinely amusing, as in a back and forth between Prince Seth and his second in command as to whether or not their army should retreat. And this sampling of some of my favorite lines:

• “An imperial guard forced to crawl through a tunnel like a rat! I’ll never live this down.”

• “I guess we get the mousetrap.”

 

To wildly overwrought and melodramatic-

• “We are beyond plans now, my friend.”

• “The blade doesn’t speak to me. The witch blocks my view.”

 

While the dialogue might be a mess, there are a few great script moments. Princess Amelie is a warrior from the start, not trying to prove herself or some such. The Delphite queen, Cassandra (Sarah Douglas), is more powerful and more influential than her husband, the king. It’s refreshing to see such things handled as natural and commonplace. The offhanded way different mystical things are discussed/ brought up gives the movie’s world a rich fantastical scope.

 

Where the movie really finds its groove are the action scenes. The opening sword fight between the two brothers is grimy and fierce. The initial gryphon attack shows a decent amount of carnage and severed limbs, which gives the film some high stakes. A siege on Armand’s tower leads him to jump out of the window, only to then land on the gryphon which flies him away. Sure, there have been other movies that do similar things with other transportation options; it’s still damned cool here because it is a freaking gryphon! Throughout the combat scenes, there are lots of aerial shots, and high swooping down crane shots that neatly allude to the presence the gryphon (be it physical or implied). The highlight of the action is a fight our heroes have with a living statue. The statue looks awful (more on the effects later), but the fight is well choreographed and quite exciting.

 

This isn’t to say that all the action sequences work. There’s a bit with ghosts attacking the group that is too dark and quick to really follow and enjoy properly. The ending battle, involving the two armies, is barely glimpsed, which gives the final third of the movie little in the way of setpieces. However, the final fight between Armand and the prince and princess, which ends the movie, is solid.

 

LaPaglia sounds too modern most of the time, but he makes for a charismatic and engaging hero. He handles a sword nimbly, and is clearly having a ball. He and Benson share some nice chemistry. Benson sounds more believable with the medieval/ fantasy laden dialogue. It’s quite the pleasure to see Benson actioning it up, and playing against type. Larry Drake is incredibly hamfisted as the evil sorcerer. Each line is more cheese filled than the last, and it works. The character is written as insane, so the scenery chewing works to his advantage here.

 

Of the supporting cast, Sarah Douglas as Queen Cassandra is the best. Stern, warm, fierce, and loving all at once, she brings a lot to what could have potentially been a one note role. Portraying the witches that serve Armand are Amy Gillespie and Simona Williams, and they suck. Decent looking though they are, they can’t even vamp it up and and be alluring in a convincing manner. Happily, they are the only two really bad actors of the bunch.

 

The greatest strength the movie has is its excellent, detail oriented set and costume design. Throughout Lockland Castle, the furniture and architecture have gryphons incorporated into their design. The armor looks heavy and dirty, not shiny. It appears used and worn, like real armor would. The crests of both kingdoms are proudly worn and embroidered on various articles of clothing. The crew clearly worked their asses off to make this fantasy world seem as realistic as possible. Coupled with the strong elements of the script, this world is easy to see as real.

 

At this point, you might be thinking to yourself- a few bad edits in a tiny portion of the action scenes, some verbose dialogue, and only two bad actresses do not a truly bad, but fun movie make. And you’d be right. Those make for a flawed but watchable film, which is a different thing. Here, what pushes this into terribly fun territory are the stunningly awful special effects.

 

I mentioned the living statue earlier. This is an effect that has been used quite well by other films, especially Harryhausen’s “Golden Voyage Of Sinbad”; but Harryhausen was in a class all his own, so let’s not dwell on that. “Gryphon” ’s statue is not CGI or stop motion, but rather a man in hastily applied grey face and body paint. Parts of the pants weren’t covered, so every now and then blue flashes can be detected. I have seen better make-up jobs in high school plays.

 

Worse than the make-up is the CGI. The ghosts don’t look too bad, but the woods they haunt (yes, even some trees are CGI here) look awkward and weirdly rubbery. But, of course, it’s the star of our show that looks the absolute worst. There is nothing wrong with the design of the gryphon, it is recognizable as a gryphon. But my dear sweet goodness, the computer generated effects used to create it are an affront to visual effects everywhere. When on any surface, the gryphon is clearly not actually resting on it. When someone goes to pet the gryphon, it’s so obvious their hand isn’t on a 3D element, which causes the difference between real hand vs. fake beak to be that much more apparent.

 

This is at its worst when the gryphon is flying, and considering it’s a freaking bird/ lion hybrid beast, it flies quite a bit. The image of flat, neverending sky is made hilarious by the undetailed cheapness of the CGI. It only looks a little better than GIFs or clip art.

 

While it doesn’t reinvent Sci-Fi channel movies, “Attack Of The Gryphon” is a wonderful example of their work at its most cheesy fun. Fantasy fans who want to see some cool action setpieces, and don’t mind ridiculing what they watch, will especially get a lot from it.