Legend Of The White Dragon Film Review

In 2022 the world lost a true pop culture icon in Jason David Frank as the man had entertained millions of kids for decades on Power Rangers. Yet he had one last property to come out and it's sadly one that he will never ever get to see but one with hindsight does serve as a love letter to his fans and the fans of actor Michael Madsen with this film even serving as a Power Rangers reunion movie of sorts and so then join me as I review the film that until very recently alot of people was sure was never ever going to see the light of day with the film in question being called simply just "Legend Of The White Dragon" enjoy.

The plot of this film three years after being framed for the deaths of thousands of people ex superhero Erik Reed finds himself trying to track down the other half of a crystal that gave him his power. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty pretty bad. Look to be frank here no one really expected this film to have that good of a plot as all you have to do is read the films Wikipedia page to get a good idea of what kind of plot that we're going to be getting with even the fact that this film doesn't have that many well known actors in it in the first place. Yet we do expect the film to actually have a plot which is something that for the most part that this film just doesn't have with the above summery of the plot being a very loose version of what actually happens in the film as the film is more of a bad Indiana Jones superhero movie then it is the straight up superhero movie that the trailers promised with the film being so light on actual plot that it was hard to work out just what the main plot of the film was even meant to be alot of the time as the film would rather focus on literally anything else rather then it's plot with the films plot feeling like something that would have worked better as an episode of Power Rangers rather then a full length feature film in it's own right as there is very little plot going on in this film as the film does drop it's plot alot of the time and for large portions of the films running time and yet when the film does focus more on it's plot that's when the film shows some promise with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Starring in this film is one of this films producer and co-creators Jason David Frank as Erik Reed / The White Dragon. Also starring i this film is this films , director , co-writer , one of the films producer , this films editor and this films co-creator Aaron Schoenke as Jai Katua / Dragon Prime , Jason Faunt as Connor Frost , Rachele Brooke Smith as Iris Maine , Andrew Bachelor as URI , David Ramsey as Mayor Trevon Sterns / Ashtagor , Mark Dacascos as Xang , Cerina Vincent as Rebecca Reed , Jenna Rae Frank as Ashley Reed , Kevin Porter as Brian "Lighthouse" Clayton , Chalet Lizette Brannan as Jade , Lenore Zann as Marie Summers , Amy Johnston as Detective Beaumon , Ciara Hanna as Vanessa Katua and Michael Madsen as Max Reed.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. The fact this film does have some somewhat decent acting in it is something that is quite shocking as out of all of this films actors only one of them is a really known named actor and even then it depends on the film if his acting is any good with that actor of course being Michael Madsen whom is decent enough in his one scene in this film with the film being dedicated to both him and Jason David Frank which is oddly fitting as JDF does turn in a good performance in this film heck the actors that you think would be bad those being the actors that starred in Power Rangers end up turning in some good performances in this film. With the best actor in this film being Jason David Frank as even tho he doesn't get to say all that much in this film he does pull it off so well as the character of Erik Reed is such a starch departure from Tommy Oliver that it now forces JDF to grow as an actor and not just play the same character that he'd been playing for close to thirty years with JDF's acting actually being one of the things that the film has gotten a lot of praise for and it's not that hard to see why as he is so good in this film with him clearly giving it his best shot and bringing his A game to this film with him having a natural charm and likability to him that does shone through in this film. With the acting that's in this very film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which s something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is the legends and the greats that really are currently over at mightyracoon! Studio. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. To be honest this films CGI was a very mixed bag of effects as while there are some good looking effects given the films budget like for example the teams ship looks decent as does the teams A.I helper URI. There are alot of really bad looking effects as you can tell right away when a a character is being added to a CGI scene as nothing is done to make it look like the character is actually there in the scene as the lighting on the character doesn't always match the lighting in the scene and when it does match he character has a thin blue line around them which says that they weren't added in correctly with the worst effects in the film by far being he films CGI fire as it just wasn't needed and it looks really fake as you can tell right away that it was a poorly done effect weather or not this was done because of the fact that the film did have a tiny budget and would have had a tiny effects budget is anyone's guess but if that was the case then why didn't the makers of this film just use practical fire as it will always look ten times better then having a badly done effect and look fair enough this film was made via Kickstarter and therefor it was never going to have a big effects budget but what that should do is force the makers of this film to cut back on the CGI and not just make everything CGI as this film is really effects heavy and it didn't need as you could have made this film for alot less just by cutting down on the effects like the badly done fire effects.

This film is meant to be a more darker and more mature version of Power Rangers and to be fair this is something that you do notice right away. As Erik and his friends near the end of the film do have different coloured suits and JDF does do his signature shouts during the films action scenes and heck we ever have alot of former Power Rangers stars appearing in this film some in major roles and some in minor roles and yet this influence doesn't hinder the film rather it makes the film alot more fun to watch as we the audience get to see elements from that franchise show up in this film like he hero transforming into his superpowered form to even having characters in there own way get transported places even tho in this film the main hero and villain are essentially just flying but given the effect that the makers of this film use to show of the flying it's clear that that's this films version of the characters being transported. Heck even Ciara Hanna who was in Power Rangers Megaforce gets to show of a bit more of what she can do as an actor and it turns out she actually is a pretty good actor with the only thing that would have made this aspect of the film be all of the more better was if they had there version of a Megazord fight just because if your going to be doing a more darker and mature take on a goofy franchise like Power Rangers then why not go all the way and show us more different takes on what was made franchise in the Power Rangers franchise and heck even the fact that Erik wears a green suit near the end of the film could in of itself be seen as a nod to Power Rangers as JDF did play the original Green Ranger with hm even getting white powers like he does in this film and while this film doesn't go as goofy as Power Rangers, this is something that could be seen as being a let down as this film was never going to be viewed as being high art therefor it would have made the film all the more better if the film did embrace its routes and be more of an adult goofy film.

Even tho this film has just come out it was actually filmed first in both 2021 and 2023 yet for one reason or another was unable to find a distributor until sometime this year. This is not to say that there weren't attempts made to release the film as the film was first due to be released in 2020 before that got cancelled for obvious reasons and then it got it's 2023 and 2024 release dates cancelled for unknown reasons until it finally found a home at Well Go USA Entertainment who have given the film a very limited theatrical release before dropping the film possibly on digital but it might be direct to DVD all of those earlier things did go a long way into making it seem like this film was either A) not going to happen or B) would end up being a film like The Order another film that was going to star a bunch of former Power Rangers actors but never truly ended up happening. Either this film from the moment that it came out that JDF had passed away should have been a very easy sell to any small studio as news of his passing hit ever major news outlet possible and did get alot of attention and yet for one reason or another the makers of this film didn't take advantage of that to get there film out there which OK could have been seen as being tacky if they did that but at the same time it would have helped to get the film more known and not leave people wondering if it will actually get released or not. Due to the fact that it would have made people remember that the film was even going to be a thing as by the time that this films first trailer did drop in this year people had stopped talking about this movie all together and alot of people myself included had all but forgotten about the film even being a thing in the first place whereas if the makers of this film were alot more quicker about getting the film released then we wouldn't have been able to forget about the film in the first place fair enough there might have other outside reasons that prevented the film from getting released in both 2023 and 2024 but the fact that the film was picture locked meaning it's all done and finished in 2025 means that they had to have finished the film by 2024.

Even tho the films main villain is meant to be Ashtagor he is really more of a puppet master in this film as the films main villain is more Jai Katua / Dragon Prime. Due to the fact that he gets more screen time and plays more of an active role in the films plot then Ashtagor does as he mainly appears in voice over form and in the form of two flashback scenes with him only really taking centre stage at the end of the film and in the films mid credits scene and that's it neither of which make him an interesting character heck the same thing could also be argued about Jai as he to isn't that well done of a character as the reason why he wants to kill Erik is the fact that he blames him for the death of his unborn daughter and wife. Which fair enough is a decent enough plan for a villain to have and it is something that does work well enough in the films favor but it's not really something that effects him as a character as alot of the time we see him he's talking to his assistant trying to recreate the half of the crystal that Erik has so that he to can become a dragon with his villain origin not really playing a part in the plot of the film it's just there for the sake of being there with it not even making him that interesting of a character he's just meant to be the complete and total polar opposite of Erik and that's it and that doesn't make him an interesting character as Erik himself isn't that interesting of a character this is despite the fact that having the villains main motive being revenge for the death of his family is a really good idea and is one that if it was done right could have made for a really cool and dark villain with the only hints of his being the fact that we do get to see Jai contemplate shooting himself not once but twice before he gets stopped both times by different characters with the rest of his screen time being spent by him yelling at people for not doing things his way.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty seven minuets and eleven seconds. Which to be fair t this film is pretty much the running time that you would expect a low budget cheaply made action film like this one to have and again to be fair given how thin the films premise is in the first place it really didn't need to be any longer then that but in saying this tho alot of the films running time is spent on pointless flashbacks that add nothing to the main plot of the film and are just there for the sake of padding out the film when the film didn't really need to be padded out all that much and all it does is make you wonder why the makers of this film are sending vast amounts of valuable running time going from one flashback to the next when they don't have alot of running time to spare in the first place with the film having just about the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even so this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot as the film has to keep on stopping the plot in order to fit in a another pointless flashback sequence which adds nothing to the plot when the time saved from having those pointless flashbacks would have allowed the makers of this film to fully develop its plot with the makers of this film putting mor thought and effort into giving the film alot of pointless flashbacks rather then giving the film plot some much needed development. This is something that does also effect the films character development as exactly none of the films characters get any kind of character development which in all fairness is something that you do expect in a dumb action movie like this one but at the same time again if the makers of this film remove those flashbacks or made them important to the films plot then they could have been allowed to have character development in those scenes and in the film as a whole with the makers of this films putting more thought and effort into hiding the films stunt doubles then they did into giving the films characters character development but I really will admit that this fil really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's  actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's  actually featured / presented to us in tis very film was in all honesty lackluster at best. With the film having alot of stunt doubles in the film which for alot of the films actors does make but for Jason David Frank whom we know for a fact is an expert martial artist and can genuinely beat people up it doesn't make sense as he would know how best to perform this films stunts safely with the only possible reason for him having a stunt double being either his age or the fact that it might have been hard to get him insured to do the film without the use of a stunt double. Heck there's not even a scene in the film that you can say for a fact is the films best action scene as alot of them do follow the same beats as each other with all of them being very badly done this is despite the fact that alot of what is done in those action scenes is pretty decent but the films music playing during those action scenes is doing alot of the heavy lifting when it should be the stunts and fights themselves that are getting you excited with the action kind of not really being helped by the fact that the main villain is played by the films co-director amongst several other things with  Aaron Schoenke quite clearly not having any sort of training with this meaning that Jason David Frank now has to slow down all of his moves during the films admittedly pretty good final fight just so that he can have a chance to make sure that things go smoothly with the rest of the films other action scenes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall whilst it is sad to think that JDF never got to see the finished product of something that he helped to not only produce but also star in in the first place this doesn't make it a good film as there are the bones of a good film in here it just needed a better script and better directing to bring them out in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and a such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 4.5 out of 10 frm me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.