The picture doesn't even begin to explain the awesome.
I just recently mentioned The Gamers: Dorkness Rising in my review of Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire. When it comes down to it, they're two completely different types of movies, covering two completely different topics. I think that's a major problem people find with Krod Mandoon, they WANT it to be Dorkness Rising.
And there's a damned good reason. Dorkness Rising is the ultimate movie for gamer dorks.
There. I said it.
If you've seen the first film, you'll know the Dead Gentlemen are capable. Well, in Dorkness Rising, they take it to a new level. The production, the acting, the effect, the writing, everything is a step above the original. The comedy is much more mature, and much broader in potential audience.
First, the plot. The movie is about a group of gamers, Dungeon Mastered by Lodge, a rather annoying but hilarious character from Dead Gentlemen Productions' first entry in the series, The Gamers. He's trying to test a new module (The Mask of Death module, which enjoyed a very limited release at Gen Con a few years back. There's a problem with that: I want that module, damn it.) His group consists of a number of gamer stereotypes, with nice personal twists. Cass is the total "gamist" type, who knows the rule books inside and out, and plays to "win." Gary plays a hot, slutty, evil wizardess who sometimes forgets that she's female because of the player's enthusiasm. Leo is the guy who first plays only fighters (oh lord, don't we all know that guy,) and when recommended to stretch his roleplaying muscles, plays a completely worthless Bard (if you're a newcomer to the game, you're so lucky to have your amazing 4th edition Bard. Believe you me, you've never seen suck until you've seen a third edition Bard.) Lastly, and most importantly, is Joanna. She's the newest member in the group, and the only female. She used to date Cass, now she's joined in to her first dungeon crawl.
Lodge's module kills the party. Holy crap does it. Time after time, the PCs throw themselves head-first into certain death. Lodge gets frustrated, Cass gets even more frustrated. Apparently, there doesn't exist a dungeon that can beat his superior play style. So the group breaks, needing to find another party member to tackle the challenge. They find nobody. Mark, a reference to The Gamers, won't play because of a bad past experience with party wipeout. Then, Joanna joins. Little does the table know, she's had a few days to sit down with the Player's Handbook. When she comes to the table, Cass offers her an optimized fighter with "bikini mail" (apparently Cass loves himself some Brom artwork.) She declines, showing off her Intelligence-based fighter with a combo of feats even Cass couldn't recognize at a glance. Cass throws together an elvish monk, arguing with Lodge over the validity in Lodge's all-human, western campaign world. Who has had that argument? Show of hands, please.
Adventure ensues. Joanna's PC tears the crap out of dozens of monsters, astounding and belittling Cass all at the same time. Gary's PC launches high-level spells at innocent villagers for kicks, while sleeping with anything that moves. Leo's Bard(s) die just about once a turn. Lodge's NPC "babysitter" Paladin gets told to look the other way while the rather vicious PCs slaughter and torture whomever they desire.
Away from the table, Lodge and Joanna start to hit it off. They're a rather cute couple, all things considered. This is a particularly cute point for me, having met my wife gaming. But... The game continues.
The PCs continue on their quest, this time learning from past mistakes and vanquishing the evil. In the end, the "moral lesson" relates to the old "roleplaying versus roll-playing" argument, and I think it's wonderfully addressed.
I won't ruin anything more. I cannot recommend Dorkness Rising enough. In fact, you can show it to non-gamers! Do. Please. It'll help them to understand you. I've shown it to rooms of all kinds of people, gamer and no. I've not heard a single negative statement. In fact, my non-gamer sister couldn't make a negative statement, because her chest hurt from too much laughing. Apparently, the movie explained why I'm the person I am quite well.
The comedy is solid. It's not just slapstick, it's not just game humor. It's firmly written, the plot is touching, and the characters are way more than their stereotypes suggest.
Check it out. Watch it on Youtube if you're skeptical. But buy it. It's a troupe of indie guys, writing their own stuff, performing it, producing it, and making it amazing. They deserve the money, and we deserve for them to make more movies. And if you see them at Gen Con, buy them beer.
5/5. Without hesitations. When looking for IMDB reviews, they said to not give 10s, because "it's good, but not that good." I think in the context, it's the best movie it could have been. I give it a 10.
(P.S.: Me too. I deserve beer as well.)
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