Clash of the Empires (Video 2012) Poster

(2012 Video)

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1/10
Wtf??
dangermous17 December 2012
Chistpher judge must be desperate for money......

The hobbits were a mixture of children and dwarfs! They mostly didn't speak English or very poor English so the film makers dubbed their lines over whatever they had said lol.

I just can't believe this film was made. There were some flying crocodiles with men riding them like horses that made me laugh. It was the kind of special effects the geekier amongst us put to amateur film when we were teenagers.

I think the script was written by someone who's first language was not English lol. That together with bad dubbing and a pathetic story make this almost impossible to watch.

I suspect this was made on the cheap as a con to dupe people in DVD rental shops into renting it on the strength by association because The Hobbit an unexpected journey has been released at the same time.

Warning do not pay money for this! I downloaded it but even though it was free i couldn't sit through the whole film. awful.
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3/10
Not a particularly good movie, but could have been much worse
TheLittleSongbird3 April 2013
Most of The Asylum movies are terrible, but I keep watching them because there is something compulsively entertaining in how bad they are that you have to keep watching. Lord of the Elves or Age of the Hobbits is not particularly good as a movie, but The Asylum have done far worse than this. The scenery is spectacular, some of the best of any movie to come out from The Asylum, and the camera work is at least orchestrated competently. Christopher Judge's resonant voice and Shakespeare-like delivery of lines makes for a nicely enigmatic performance. Bai Ling, as beguiling as she looks, is too subdued however, and the rest of the cast are significantly hindered by the truly cheesy dubbing. The dubbing also makes the dialogue awkward and not very easy to understand. The special effects are a mixed bag, the giant spiders and lizards look good and are well above average for The Asylum but the flying lizard-dragons and enormous rhino are less good, the rhino actually was rendered very badly. The story is thinly structured and unexciting, never really getting a chance to properly open up. The choreography for the fight sequences is lacking in tightness and the performing of it likewise. The music is on the generic side, the characters are rather cardboard and never really developed enough to make us care for them and the direction shows a director not putting enough of his own style into the movie, coming across as rather flat and characterless instead. To conclude, could have been much worse and has the scenery and Judge's performance to thank for that, but while somewhat entertaining really rises above mediocre in my opinion. 3/10 Bethany Cox
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1/10
The only people who liked this film are perahps the people who worked on it
jordondave-280852 May 2023
(2012) Clash of the Empires HISTORICAL ACTION FICTION

In order for China and Rome to make peace with one another, Rome would have to send in their prince, in this case, it's Marcus (Gavin Stenhouse) to marry one of China's princesses named, Princess Meng Li Hua (Jing Lusi). The Roman army also needed the assistance of a Malaysian warrior named Merong (Stephen Rahman Hughes), who also has a score to settle with an evil Malaysian wizard, as well as a radical Malaysian army group, intent to sabotage the whole peace process altogether, between China and Rome. And they do this by kidnapping the princess. The demographic audience for this movie sometimes seems like it's intended for kids, while there are other times it's intended for adults. I guess, it's for adults during the times when they're subtitles that needed to be read, with the silly comedy bits intended for kids. Then there's the CGI, which looks totally fake, as well as the fight scenes which I have to say sometimes look phony- at times looked like that it was made for TV which surprisingly is not. 1/2 a star.
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5/10
Overacting Thai midgets = pure movie crystal meth
mikemdp27 January 2013
Some movies defy reviews.

Think "Zardoz." Think "Myra Breckinridge." Think of any time you've said, "What the hell planet is this movie from?" That's this movie.

The gorgeous location shooting, along with the grand adventure narrative, give the impression hack filmmaking house The Asylum's goal here was to evoke a John Milius' "Conan the Barbarian"-type epic.

What turned it to gold was the decision to populate the cast almost entirely with Thai midgets. And they fight giant spiders and battle cavemen who ride flying Komodo dragons. Because yeah. And all of this takes place, the beginning of the film instructs us, in "Indonesia, 12,000 years ago."

Shoehorned into the story are some dude from "Stargate SG-1" and every-man's-Asian-girlfriend-nightmare Bai Ling, because the movie needed star power and Bai Ling probably needed the money for bail or booze.

But they don't matter, because what this movie is really about is wildly overacting, violently gesticulating little people who have been dubbed, apparently, by the same people who dubbed all those "Godzilla" movies in the 1960s.

Folks, they're WONDERFUL. They chew through the scenery, barking their lines and flailing their arms like Ewok Shatners.

They turned what might have been an above-average adventure offering from The Asylum, like "Princess of Mars," into an astounding Munchkinland/Lord-of-the-Rings/tiny-chicks-in-the-box-from-"Mothra" mashup.

It's pure movie crystal meth. You know it's poison. You know it's rotting your brain. But you just can't resist it.

And despite the cavemen's obvious joke-store fang teeth, despite the second most poorly rendered digital woolly rhinoceros ever put on screen (the first being, of course, Zach Galifianakis), despite your wanting Bai Ling to just stop yapping and take her clothes off (she does neither), you'll watch it again. Then you'll rent it again. Then you'll buy the DVD. Then you'll start selling "Clash of the Empires" DVDs just to support your viewing habit.

This is your brain. This is your brain on overacting Thai midgets. Any questions?
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5/10
A review from someone who actually appreciated the film
benstarwolf24 June 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This may have been the first mockbuster I intentionally watched, having only recently become acquainted with the idea of them. When I found out this film was originally titled Age of the Hobbits, until being sued for stealing Tolkien's term, I knew I had to watch it. However, it is not a rip-off of the Hobbit film(s), but rather a anthropologically-based film with a pitch of fantasy that to some degree pays homage to the plot of the Lord of the Rings. There is even a part where the hobbits mourn the death of a hobbit named Gam-Gee who was a gardener. The movie stars many Thai people, I believe, of various heights, plus Chris Judge (Af. American), Bai Ling (Chinese), and Antonis Greco (?). The casting director from The Last Airbender could take an example from this movie. Sadly, though, all of the little people had dubbed voices. Why? Anyway, the synopsis at the top of the movie page, which refers to an enchanted dagger, is inaccurate and should be ignored in place of the one a have written below. This review contains SPOILERS. The film is about a family of 4 Homo florensiensis/Hobbits/halflings/tree-men/half-men: a husband, a wife, a son, and a daughter (an amalgam of Biblo/Frodo/Sam/Merry/Pippin). Their village/the Shire is attacked by cannibals/orcs/rock-men and Black Riders/dragon-riders. Many of the Hobbits are captured and taken to Mordor/the rock-men's cave including the mother. The hobbit family goes after her while being pursued by the head dragon-rider/Witch King of Angmar who wants revenge of the hobbit son knocked out his lieutenant's eye with a thrown rock. The hobbits make is to the plains where they want to get the Homo sapiens/Men of Rohan/giants to help them save their people from the rock-men. They observe the men/giants ambush a rhinoceros/opliphaunt and the father distracts the beast and saves the hunting chief/Aragorn/Amthar's life. He brings the head-man/Theoden/king and asks to help them but the king only wants peace with the rock-men. The daughter offers to teach the humans horticulture and the father offers to teach the gathering but the humans are only hunters. The son offers to teach them how to make an atlatl/"helping stick", which he invented, but the king refuses even after seeing it work. The hunting chief/Aragorn/Amthar helps the hobbit family anyway and two of his hunters and one of the king's spear-maidens (whose family was killed by rock-men) join them (the three are a mix of Legolas/Gimli/Boromir/Eowyn). Along the way to Mordor, they face tentacle vines (Watcher in the Water), giant spiders (Shelob), the death of a party-member (Gandalf/Boromir) and lots of running (Three Hunters). Meanwhile, the mother (Bilbo/Frodo) and the other hobbits await getting eaten by the rock-men. In the caves, the mother meets a hobbit slave (Gollum) of the rock-men who has managed to survive being eaten for many years. Finally, the humans and hobbits arrive at the caves where they are attacked my dragons. Amthar (Faramir, this time) is poisoned and it is up to the daughter (Pippin) to save him. The father (Frodo), knowing time is limited, goes on his own to save his wife but the son (Sam) comes with him despite being told not to. As the hobbits begin to be sacrificed and eaten, Amthar saves the day by killing the head- woman/Sauron/witch-queen of the rock men, the father saves the mother from a pit, Gollum dies, and the others help the other hobbits escape. There is a final battle against the rest of the rock men and the dragon- riders (not without loss on the side of the heroes, yet again) and all seems hopeless. Yet, at the last, the king of the giants arrives (horn blowing and all) with the other hunters and there is a big battle with hobbits and humans on one side and rock-men and dragon riders on the other. The head dragon-rider (Witch-King) kills the king (Theoden) and after the heroes win, Amthar/Aragorn becomes king. The dragon- rider/Witch-King was still alive, secretly and almost kills the heroes but the son (Merry, this time) kills him just in time using a bow, which he had invented immediately after the battle, intending it to be a string instrument. In the end, the son and daughter stay with the giants and the parents lead the other hobbits home. Amthar calls to them and blesses them saying that he hopes their kind lasts for 10,000 years ...which is actually kind of sad considering that scientists don't have evidence for them living much later in time than the time in which this movie takes place. I think if you can look past the bad special effects and the bad acting you can appreciate this movie especially if you like LOTR or prehistoric peoples.
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A low budget, multi-cultural, fantasy B-movie epic! Not for most audiences (due to dubbed voices), but I enjoyed it...Totally family friendly by the way...
bcbell7913 January 2013
A low budget, multi-cultural, fantasy B-movie epic! Not for most audiences, but I enjoyed it... worth watching for Chris Judge fans. It needs to be seen to be believed!!! Totally family friendly by the way...

This film needs to be seen to be believed, its's not easy to describe. It stars Thai little people (as in midgets, dwarfs, little people, etc.), along with Chris Judge (Stargate SG-1) and Bai Ling (The Gene Generation). The Thai cast is completely dubbed over in English. This fact alone makes this unwatchable to most (HENCE THE HORRIBLE REVIEWS!!), but if you are okay with dubbing (like me!) then you might enjoy this heartfelt, family friendly action/fantasy film. The CGI is surprisingly good(!), the lizard/dragon/dinosaur beasts look great, along with the spider beasties and assorted monsters that attack the heroes...

This film is hard to describe, but it is family friendly and full of fantasy action! It is dubbed over, so most will find it laughable, but those that are okay with dubbing (like children for example!) might actually enjoy this film...
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5/10
Come on, it is not so awful
jose_moscardo27 May 2015
It is not so bad, folks. Obviously it's not a good movie but not so terrible either. The Cambodian scenery is gorgeous and the CGI effects are fine considering the budget (in my opinion the monkeys in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" are much worse than the giant komodo dragons, spiders and other creatures here, especially because producers of Spielberg's film spent a hundred times more money. Also we have some decent fights and a cool Bai Ling playing the role of a warrior woman (definitely this is not her best performance from far but she is still very sexy and cool).

I watched it with my sons, seven and eleven years old, and we enjoyed it. Despite its moderate violence, I think that is not a bad film for watching with your children, it has enough elements for that: exotic adventures, a touch of fantasy and a subtle message of friendship and loyalty. It is not good, I repeat, but not so bad. Italian filmmakers made a lot of movies like this in seventies and eighties (usually more violent and less familiar), some of them have become cult movies only for nostalgic reasons. "Clash of the Empires" makes me remember those films and, being honest, maybe because I miss them I don't dislike this one.
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1/10
Did the hobbits migrate from Indonesia to New Zealand?
paul_haakonsen6 January 2013
You can't help but laugh throughout most of this movie when you sit down to watch it, provided you actually can endure sitting through it. This is another wonderful movie production from The Asylum, and given the title of the movie "Age of the Hobbits", though I can't start to fathom how come the movie's original title "Clash of the Empires" managed to mutate into "Age of the Hobbits", aside from a lame attempt to cash in on the recently released Peter Jackson movie "The Hobbit", because this movie has absolutely nothing to do with hobbits in any sense of the word.

What went through the minds of the people at The Asylum when this movie was dished out of the creative think-box? Let's go to wonderful Indonesia, round out a heap of little people and make a semi-fantasy movie that is set somewhere in between ancient time when men were just beyond Neanderthal stage and a world with dragons and other gargantuan creatures (lizards and spiders). Seriously? But it actually works out, because it is so hilarious to watch that the movie actually grows on you.

Let's start with the people in the movie. There is a lot of little people on the cast list, and there is nothing wrong with that. But their speech is dubbed into English with a thick American accent. I didn't know that they spoke picture-perfect American in Indonesia 12,000 years ago. But I guess I was proved wrong. For some reason, then the 'enemies' of the heroes of the movie all looked like Neanderthals and were less intelligent as well. You just had to love the unibrow that they all had and the wonderfully fake teeth.

Then there were Christopher Judge and Bai Ling. What were they thinking, taking on a production project like this. Are they not familiar with the previous work of The Asylum? Or are the line of work for actors in Hollywood that far pressed? Regardless, I can only guess or wonder, and it is not really my place to question this. I was just at a loss to see these two people in this movie. Normally Bai Ling do manage to perform fairly well in movies, but her performance in this movie was just awful.

The fight scenes were adequate at times, but then there were moments where it was painfully staged and horribly executed by the performers.

But take this movie for what it is, a hilarious production from The Asylum, and as usual, you know what you are getting yourself into with this movie and their usual stuff. It should be said that The Asylum manages to spew out the occasional great movie once in a blue moon, "Clash of the Empires" (or "Age of the Hobbits") was not one such star moment. Far from it.

What really worked for the movie was the spectacular landscapes and wilderness surroundings in which the movie was shot. Plus, the hilarious entirety that is the movie.
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1/10
As Teal'c. said ... Undomesticated equines couldn't drag me to watch all of this.
chris-hirst-573-9702594 January 2013
donniedark in his review said "some flying crocodiles with men riding them like horses" not even close! More like flying newts!

Fortunately I also downloaded this to see if it was worth buying.

Buying!!!????? Are you kidding??

It wasn't even worth the download time and has now been deleted from my drive.

Definitely a close contender to replace "Plan 9 From Outer Space" in the position as the worst ever SF movie and as for putting a spoiler in the review? Believe you me, this film doesn't NEED any help!

Whatever you do, give this a miss. Maybe in twenty years or so it may reach "cult classic" status and be hailed for it's dire plot but it's definitely not a "pizza and beer" or a family night in movie.
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1/10
Feel sorry for the team...
thalesbulhoes9 June 2013
I hate to give such bad score for a film, but this is the typical idea that is better in a book. Each of the variables (Actors, effects, script, music, makeup, time, equipment, etc...) can transform the movie into a catastrophe (pretty much what's happen). I'm not saying that all aspects of this movie are awful, but in comparison with a international movie's standard... I could not give less. That is why I"m sorry, I try to understand all the good work and the good things that the movie have as well, but still seams an idea way too ambitious for what they have in hands. I like all kinds of movies, and I know that is too easy criticize a work that is already done. but seriously, there is a lot of things in the movie that are stupid and unnecessary.
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1/10
who paid you to write this
oatsart5421 October 2017
the story line is there ,some of the acting was good but the directing and the writing was some the worst I have ever seen. who writes this stuff.you take a hand full of good actors and make them look like clowns.when i know they are better then that.i understand people have to make a living but before you destroy peoples careers learn how to write you hacks
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2/10
No redeeming features
Leofwine_draca4 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
LORD OF THE ELVES is a simple and generic HOBBIT rip-off from The Asylum, released under about half a dozen different titles just to confuse consumers of such fare. The most interesting thing about this ridiculous production is that it was shot in Cambodia of all places, with a local supporting cast of dwarf actors and the like playing cut-price hobbits. The usual battles with giant, badly animated CGI beasties play out, while the kooky Bai Ling plays a warrior woman who runs around in a leather bikini get up. It's entirely devoid of redeeming features, and can only be watched in a so-bad-it's-bad kind of spirit.
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1/10
Sigh
cdls-7606814 May 2019
Ok, so I came across this movie on amazon prime last night & since I am always looking for new things to watch I decided to give this 1 a go. This is a very low budget movie with bad acting. The special effects are bad. During some scenes the actors looked like they didn't even know what was going on. All in all just don't.
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2/10
Skip this one!
MegaritzMom15 June 2019
The casting and acting are awful! I only made it about half-way through before I had to turn it off. I turn off less than 5% of the movies I start. The only good thing about this film is the location; it has beautiful scenery!
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3/10
Hobbits vs cannibals on a budget
Chase_Witherspoon17 January 2024
Cambodian styled 'Lord of the Rings' rip-off starring 'Stargate' alumni Chris Judge and veteran Chinese action star Ling ('The Crow') as a pair of elite warriors who accompany a family of hobbit-like people as they try to locate their mother whose been abducted and enslaved by savages.

The CGI dinosaurs and special effects are better than usual, but the painful dubbing mars what could've almost been a modest 'Mysterious Island' esque adventure (it otherwise bares little relationship with the hobbit franchise, aside from the diminutive cast members).

Co-star Ling's obvious fitness and athleticism belies her age, and she looks and acts like the real deadly deal, but the acting is otherwise stilted and amateurish (the extras in many of the Javan warrior scenes invariably act too casually or too intense). The cave-dwelling, elf-eating cannibal queen with the bad teeth is a pretty scary sight, alas she gets too little screen time to make a lasting impression.

Too bloody for juvenile fare, and likely too low-budget to appeal to a mainstream audience who may have arrived expecting something akin to a JRR Tolkien epic. Attractive set design and costumes demonstrate some care and expense, but it's still strictly B-grade material.
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