Review - The Legend of Zelda: The Sage of Darkness (2008)

      Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, about a week ago, I picked up a copy of the game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch. And honestly, I have been thoroughly enjoying it. Playing the game got me into wanting to talk about something Zelda related, but unfortunately there are no official live-action feature films based on Nintendo's beloved fantasy game franchise. However, there are two fan films out there, and I would like to talk about my personal favorite of these with the 2008 fan film The Legend of Zelda: The Sage of Darkness, directed by Josh Dixon. 

       So, we open with a narration about the neverending cycle of Hyrule, and an eternal conflict between the Dark One, the Princess, and the Hero of Time, and how the cycle repeats itself every once in a century. After the opening credits, we meet Princess Zelda of Hyrule, who is the last holdout of the King's advisors keeping Hyrule from falling into the hands of Prince Ertegun of Gerudo Valley. Ertegun is accompanied by his top associate Skull Kid, and the two seek to control Hyrule by any means necessary. Zelda, however, isn't willing to give in to Ertegun's wishes. 

        It's here where we meet Link, a farm boy who, after losing his parents years ago, does his best to care for his younger brother, Kyrin. One evening, however, Ertegun shows up to muscle Link out of the only money he and Kyrin have. The next day, Link decides to get the money back by heading to Hyrule Castle, where a guard allows him to enter, and another takes him to Princess Zelda. Zelda then tells Link about the legend of Hyrule, and how she believes that the cycle is repeating itself once more, and Ertegun may be planning to release the Dark One himself: Ganon. Lastly, Zelda believes that Link is the Hero of Time. Unwilling to believe the story, Link leaves and returns to his brother with more than enough money to keep the two of them fed. 

      Unfortunately, Ertegun makes his ultimate play and arranges for a marriage between himself and Zelda, seating himself in a position of power over Hyrule. After the two are wed, Ertegun kills Zelda's father, and then goes to where Link lives to kill him as well, killing Kyrin instead. An enraged Link goes after Ertegun's guards, but faints before facing defeat at the hands of Ertegun. Some time later, Link is awoken by the guard from earlier, Davik. Davik reveals that he is the brother of Link's mother, making Davik the uncle of Link. Davik then proceeds to train Link to master a very powerful and dangerous sword: a sword that feeds on the anger and rage of its wielder. 

         Meanwhile, Ertegun and Skull Kid discuss further plans. Ertegun and his men then go after a nearby village, and Link and Davik fight them off. That evening, Ertegun takes Zelda to the Temple of Time, where Skull Kid, who declares himself to be the Sage of Darkness, plans to have Ertegun, Zelda, and Link all in one place to perform a ritual: one that will begin the process of releasing Ganon from his eternal prison. Skull Kid is quickly unmasked, revealing himself to be Davik. Zelda and Link flee, taken to safety by the village elder who had previously looked after both Link and Kyrin. 

        The village elder reveals an unspoken part of the legend of Hyrule: the Sages. Evidently, they were the ones that maintained the eternal cycle, but most of the lines of Sages died out until only two remained, with Davik and the Elder being the last two Sages. In addition, the Sages make it their duty to seek out the Hero of Time, who is typically a commoner, and years ago they found him in Link's father. Davik trained him, but he fell in love with Davik's sister and married her, having two sons. Davik then poisoned her, causing great anger in Link's father, leading him to seek a powerful weapon: the Master Sword. Unfortunately, his quest for the sword led to his death at Davik's hands.

       Link then goes after the Master Sword himself, overcoming a test from the spirit of his father. This, unfortunately, leads to Ertegun to transform into Ganon, who kills the elder and kidnaps Zelda. This leads to a final showdown between Link and Ganon, with Davik eventually vanishing in the scuffle. As Link and Ganon fight, Zelda realizes something: as the son of Davik's sister, who would also be a Sage, Link himself is ALSO a Sage, meaning that he and Zelda CAN seal Ganon away once more. Link frees Zelda, who traverses back in time to recover an ancient tome, which can be used to cast the spell to seal Ganon away once more. With Ganon defeated, Link picks up the Skull Kid mask, and decides to go after Davik, ending the movie with a narration that hints that the cycle will repeat itself once again. 

        Okay, so there is a lot to enjoy about Sage of Darkness. First off, instead of taking the route of another live-action Zelda fan film The Hero of Time and just straight up adapt a story from the Zelda games (The Hero of Time was quite literally just a live-action translation of the game Ocarina of Time) director Josh Dixon told an original story that plays more into the repeating cycle of the Zelda games. I also like that there were a number of references to the games, like the currency of Hyrule is rupees, the three goddesses Din, Farore, and Nayru, even references to Gerudo Valley. Honestly, these are terrific references that Zelda fans will enjoy catching. 

       As far as acting goes, it ranges from passable to hammy as hell. To start off, I thoroughly enjoyed both Dan Hogan as Link and Natalie Feldbusch as Zelda. Both looked the part and fit the part very well. Michael Gabriel was decent as Davik, as was Steve Hogan as the Elder. However, I wasn't a fan of either Connor Osborn as Ertegun or Blake Henderson as Kyrin. I found one to be too over-the-top and the other two be insufferable and annoying. I did, however, enjoy Nick Brys as Ganon. He definitely has an aura of menace about him that is befitting of the most dangerous villain of Hyrule. But, I have to give a shout-out to Garrett Snook as Link's father. Now, I actually discovered this movie through his review of it for his now-defunct movie review series What We Had to Watch on his YouTube channel, and because of his review, I became a fan of this movie. 

       Now, there are some design issues, including several anachronisms such as electric lights, power lines, and other modern day items scattered throughout the movie, as well as cheap visual effects peppered throughout the movie. However, while I can overlook the crappy effects because it's a fan film, the many anachronisms are a bit distracting. I mean, this is supposed to be a medieval fantasy world, at least try to make an effort, guys. Also, what's with the choices of music? I head stuff from movie soundtracks like Gladiator and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I get not being able to get someone to score this project with original music, but did you have to get music pieces that are instantly recognizable? Seriously. 

        Even with my minor gripes, I thoroughly enjoyed The Legend of Zelda: The Sage of Darkness, and definitely recommend it to fans of the Zelda games. It's available in it's entirety on YouTube, so it should be easy to find. I'm giving The Legend of Zelda: The Sage of Darkness a rating of 4/5. This is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.