One of the best things about fantasy and science fiction is when you take an old, or classic, story and revamp it for a new medium.  Make a samurai futuristic with colourful laser swords or make Christmas an deity’s evolution of faith and the most crucial event of the world’s existence (Terry Pratchet’s Hogfather).

Example: Danny Glover as Captain Ahab in Age of the Dragons (previously titled Dragon Fire).  This low-budget film is the reimagining of Herman Melville‘s Moby Dick which sees the famous white whale replaced with a white dragon. The movie stars Vinnie Jones, Corey Sevier (Smallville, The Dresden Files, Decoys 2), Sofia Pernas (The Immortal Voyage of Captain Drake), and Larry Bagpby (Walk the Line).

To quote the film’s own executive producer, “It’s Moby Dick with way more excitement, way more action.” Age of the Dragons opens in UK theaters this week, on March 4, but no US release has been set.

Here is the official synopsis:

Based on Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, AGE OF THE DRAGONS starring Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones is an all-action re-telling of the classic story like never before. Captain Ahab (Glover) and his crew hunt the most feared creatures to have ever existed: DRAGONS.

Ishmael, a charismatic harpooner, joins their quest with the promise of riches beyond his wildest fantasies. Whilst Ahab’s adopted daughter Rachel, sexy yet tough, runs the hunting vessel. And it’s not long before the vessel’s fearless and most experienced harpooner, Stubbs (Jones), is leading the crew into combat against the deadly mythical beasts.

But it gradually emerges that this isn’t a hunt, it is an obsession. Ahab seeks revenge on a great ‘White Dragon’ that slaughtered his family when he was young, leaving his body scarred and mauled. With the hunt threatening the certain death of all involved, the crew must decide who is their most dangerous enemy: The White Dragon, or Ahab himself…