So, after being in a start-stop production for over seven years on a budget of $26 million, Forbidden Empire aka Viy is here. Based loosely on the Nikolai Gogol story of the same name, the film’s first weekend in it’s native Russia broke the all-time record at the box office, and a sequel has already begun filming in China. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, the Czech possession flick Ghoul scored a big opening in its native country as well, but that film was another “been there, done that” effort that failed to impress many people outside of the Czech Republic. I know, different country, different genre, and so on. Still, without the home field bias, does this epic do Gogol’s story justice?

Jonathan Green (Jason Flemyng) is an English cartographer in the 18th century, who has set out to discover the unreported areas of the world. In this case, Green is mapping the uncharted lands around Transylvania. After stumbling across a small village deep in the Ukrainian woods, Green discovers that the village is being plagued by monsters roaming around in the neighbouring swamp. While the village’s inhabitants aren’t all there themselves and are unsure of Green’s presence in their village, an underlying evil is lurking behind the scenes, and Green’s been caught in the middle.

The big attraction for Forbidden Empire is it’s environments. There are some really great fantasy visuals in this film, which reminded me of Van Helsing on more than one occasion. In fact, the film feels very much like Stephen Sommers’ adventure, for better and for worse (more on that later). Green’s over-the-top carriage is full of all sorts of knick-knacks, and really sells the idea that the character has been places. The style of the costumes, the lighting and the sets are all very well done, and really establish and maintain the fantastical 18th century setting. The other piece that helps out the setting are the gorgeous-looking creature makeups. Sure, the CGI isn’t the greatest (bordering on SyFy levels), but the practical effects are what really shine, particularly during the dinner scene where Green is host to a group of Cossacks (hint: They aren’t human).

When it comes to the film’s acting, it’s a little difficult to determine the quality, given Forbidden Empire was shot in Russian and later dubbed into English. Still, the mannerisms and body language are there. I assume that director Oleg Stepchenko knew this, as the film has a physical comedy component to it. Jason Flemyng is very likable as Jonathan Green, and appears to be enjoying himself in the role. Charles Dance sticks to the grumpy character role he often portrays in films as the Lord Dudley, father of Green’s lover, played by Anna Churina. While Dance’s character isn’t integral to the story, it’s still fun to see him here. Unfortunately, in spite of the physical acting, the dubbing in the film is not the greatest for the non-English-speaking actors, and as such, it takes away from much of the performances and gets annoying pretty quick.

I wish that crappy dubbing was Forbidden Empire‘s only problem. Remember how I said that the film feels a lot like Van Helsing? Well, just like that film, Forbidden Empire loves to have a lot of plot ideas. But unlike Van Helsing, not all of them when combined in Forbidden Empire make for an enjoyable experience. Case in point: The film starts out with Green and the aforementioned Miss Dudley in bed, and of course Lord Dudley despises Green, so Green must escape and go on his adventures. From there, the film’s plot and its happenings are revealed to the viewer via letters sent to Miss Dudley by Green via carrier pigeon. While that sounds interesting, the scenes of Miss Dudley and her father grind the film to a halt with their repetitive and unnecessary inclusion. Factor in the other plotlines, such as the power-mad priest of the village who sets the people against Green and the love story subplot between two villagers, the film just can’t maintain its momentum, especially when the plotlines aren’t fully fleshed out. Coupled with the film’s runtime clocking in at just under two hours, the opportunity to develop those plotlines into something more is frustratingly wasted.

Despite the cool idea of bringing one of Nikolai Gogol’s stories to life for modern audiences, Forbidden Empire fails to capitalize on the potential. Again, the film felt a lot like Van Helsing in spots, but whereas Van Helsing was loud and dumb fun with all of its plot threads, Forbidden Empire just ends up being disjointed and boring for much of its time. The dubbing is the continuous annoyance that helps to drive the disinterest I felt after a while while watching this film. Had the narrative gotten a much-needed cleaning and focus, the film would’ve been much better, especially with the great visuals and practical effects already within the film. See it out of curiosity if you’re sick of watching The Lord Of The Rings and are a fan of Van Helsing. Just don’t be surprised if you turn it off halfway through. And if you do want to see it, watch it in it’s original Russian with subtitles. There’s no sense adding insult to injury to a film that’s in need of fixing.