I sat down to watch the 2016 adventure movie "Mythica: The Godslayer" here in 2022. I found out that this is apparently the fifth movie in the franchise, and I do believe that I might have seen one or two of the predecessing movies, though I can't recall them, not even if my life depended on it. So I can't say that I was harboring much of any expectations to writers Jason Faller and Kynan Griffin.

And with good cause, because the storyline told in "Mythica: The Godslayer" was just utter rubbish. I didn't even manage to get halfway through the ordeal, because the pacing of the narrative was sleep-inducingly slow and nothing worthwhile was happening as the story took forever to get from A to B. So no thumbs up on the writing for this movie.

Nor can I say that I cared for the character gallery in the movie. In fact, even having just turned off the movie, I can't even recall the names of any characters in the movie. Yeah, the character gallery was that bland and pointless.

The one thing that "Mythica: The Godslayer" had working for it, though, were the props and costumes. I liked those. But set against a non-existing storyline and pointless characters, then props and wardrobe could only do so much.

Then there were the sounds that they opted to give the zombies. Are you kidding me? It just made the zombie scenes go straight to being laughable and ludicrous to witness.

Director John Lyde failed entirely to provide a movie that had anything interesting to offer. And I have been playing role-playing games for about 35 years now, and I failed to find any entertainment in "Mythica: The Godslayer". So this is by no means a movie that I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on.

I am rating "Mythica: The Godslayer" a generous two out of ten stars, and that is based on the props and costumes alone.

The first film, 'Mythica: A Quest for Heroes', was not a bad movie but with some major debits and not an awful lot special about it. It was watchable if on the mediocre side if anything. Its first sequel 'Mythica: The Darkspore' quality-wise is about the same (though with a couple of improvements), watchable with nothing to get angry or excited about.

Didn't care for the mediocre 'Mythica: The Necromancer', and while an improvement 'Mythica: The Iron Crown' was average with me having mixed feelings on it. This film, the fifth in the series, 'Mythica: The Godslayer' was not bad at all. Not great by all means and could have been better, but it is definitely the best of the follow-ups and quite possibly the best of the series.

More is done right than wrong. 'Mythica: The Godslayer' is nicely photographed generally and more focused in terms of camera work and the scenery is sweeping and boasts some colour and atmosphere. Costumes and sets allow one to get suitably, if not fully, immersed in the fantasy world that is being portrayed.

Acting is better than average. Melanie Stone is good in the lead role, and the character is engaging and well-rounded. The only exception is Kevin Sorbo going through the motions.

'Mythica: The Godslayer's' music score is stirring and fits reasonably well. There is a little more maturity in the writing, the film goes at a lively pace, there is a real sense of charm and wonder and it starts really well.

However, the special effects do look ropey, the worst of them distractingly bad. The action is variable, some of it excites, others are still too clumsy and safe.

Regarding the script, it's still a bit trite and could have explained things much more, things can be cheesy and vague. The story, although it starts really well, can feel simplistic and too thin at times, not doing an awful lot new with a not too original premise. The hammer of Tek stuff is a bit vague.

The characters are never annoying and they are relatively likeable, but the main character is the only properly developed or interesting one. The villain especially is very underdeveloped, didn't learn much, felt little if any sense of threat and motivations are not always clear.

Overall, not bad at all. 6/10 Bethany Cox

It's not high art, but in my opinion this pentology is a worthy effort and well worth watching. It starts off slow with part 1 (A Quest for Heroes) featuring a slave girl (Melanie Stone) gradually coming into her power as a necromancer, or sorceress wielding dark magic.

Although the first movie has a satisfying ending, you may still thirst for more adventures in the Mythica universe. Fortunately, there are four more, queued up and ready to roll!

The movies gather steam, and darkness, culminating in The Godslayer, the high-stakes finale of the series. There is enough magic, and swords, and evil sorcerers, and good sorceresses, and even a couple of gods, to satisfy everyone.

Some people call it some kind of B-grade kickstarter movie, but in my opinion it's a captivating and charming series, B or C or whatever. The actors are sincere and skillful, the writing moves the story along, and the special effects (where they even exist) are minimalist but effective.

Now I wonder if there will ever be a sequel, but really, five movies is plenty, and in 2-3 years I will definitely be watching this one again!