Cryptozoologist Travis Preston (Scott Adkins) leads his team in search of creatures either believed to be extinct or are from legend. In the opening scene they are in search of a giant prehistoric bear but one of his employees, a young guy, gets killed. Preston's associate, Harker (Dolph Lundgren) is pissed that he doesn't want to kill the carnivore to begin with and this is the beginning of their falling out. After this, Preston is back in the city and being sued. His team no longer does field work. But he's approached by someone who wants him to go to China and capture what appears to be a dragon. The huge reptile is attacking workers on a oil pipeline. But when he gets there Harker is already there with his own team and won't give him access the area. The first few encounters with the dragon is brief and we just get quick glimpses of it. By the end of the movie, which takes place in a vast cave system, we see plenty of it and the CGI effects are surprisingly good, far better than anything vomited lately on the Syfy Channel.
This would be an entertaining franchise and can see three or four sequels, where they encounter different monsters. And even though stars Adkins and Lundgren are in the abysmal UNIVERSAL SOLDER: DAY OF RECKONING, I won't hold that against this movie. Recommended.
Cryptozoologist Travis Preston (Scott Adkins) leads his team in search of creatures either believed to be extinct or are from legend. In the opening scene they are in search of a giant prehistoric bear but one of his employees, a young guy, gets killed. Preston's associate, Harker (Dolph Lundgren) is pissed that he doesn't want to kill the carnivore to begin with and this is the beginning of their falling out. After this, Preston is back in the city and being sued. His team no longer does field work. But he's approached by someone who wants him to go to China and capture what appears to be a dragon. The huge reptile is attacking workers on a oil pipeline. But when he gets there Harker is already there with his own team and won't give him access the area. The first few encounters with the dragon is brief and we just get quick glimpses of it. By the end of the movie, which takes place in a vast cave system, we see plenty of it and the CGI effects are surprisingly good, far better than anything vomited lately on the Syfy Channel.
