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MOVIE REVIEW

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

MPA Rating: PG-13-Rating (MPA) for intense battle sequences.

Reviewed by: Christopher Walker
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating:
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Teens
Genre: Fantasty, Action, Adventure
Length: 2 hr. 4 min.
Year of Release: 2008
USA Release: January 11, 2008 (wide—2,500 theaters)
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Relevant Issues

This film is based on a video game: Dungeon Siege

Sorcery in the Bible

Featuring Jason Statham, Leelee Sobieski, John Rhys-Davies, Ron Perlman, Claire Forlani, Kristanna Loken, Matthew Lillard, Brian White, See all »
Director Uwe Boll
Producer Brandon Baker, Uwe Boll, Dan Clarke, Wolfgang Herold, Chet Holmes, Michael Roesch, Peter Scheerer, Jonathan Shore, Shan Tam, Shawn Williamson
Distributor Freestyle Releasing

“Rise and fight.”

If you’re either a film lover or not, and you haven’t heard the name Uwe Boll yet, then let me give you an introduction: Uwe Boll is today what director Ed Wood was in the 1950s; one of the worst directors in the history of cinema. His first three films were based on video games and have done poorly in the box office: “House of the Dead,” “Alone in the Dark,” and “BloodRayne” (although all of them went on to produce direct-to-DVD sequels, surprisingly). He has three more coming out this year, only one of them is NOT based on a video game.

Well, now Mr. Boll can add another piece of crud onto his plate, a movie based on the Dungeon Siege video game. This movie should give cause to start re-launching “Mystery Science Theater 3000”.

The main character in the movie is named Farmer (Jason Statham), who is really… a, uh, farmer, living peacefully in the land of Eb with his lovely wife Solana (Claire Forlani) and son. That is, until Krugs come arrive in the village and start their burning and pillaging, taking his wife and murdering his son. The Krugs are under the control of a powerful sorcerer named Gallan (Ray Liotta): Gallan wants to be king of the entire land, which is under sovereign rule by King Konreid (Burt Reynolds). Farmer’s mission of vengeance will collide with the kingdom when one of the king’s bodyguards Merrick (John Rhys-Davies) recognizes him and aids him on his quest to save his wife Solana and the entire kingdom. The kingdom includes Commander Tarish (Brian J. White), Konreid’s daughter Muriella (Leelee Sobieski) who wishes to fight in battle, and his traitorous cousin Duke Fallow (Matthew Lillard), who blurts off lines as if he’s trying out for a local Shakespearean production. (The girl who also played in “BloodRayne,” Kristanna Loken, has an extended cameo as one of the forest women who helps Farmer on his quest.)

There’s not much to say about the movie in that it seems to proudly rip-off “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy as well. What Peter Jackson did masterfully and artistically with the three movies, Boll undoes with one film. The music easily rips Howard Shore’s Oscar-winning scores, and doesn’t take itself seriously in a few scenes (rule one of movie making, when a main character buries his son, DO NOT switch to a track usually reserved for suspenseful scenes). The choice of music during the end credits doesn’t help either—ranging from questionable to hideous. The dialogue is laughably bad. Some of the special effects are poorly handled. The Krugs look like a hybrid of the Orcs and the Putties from “Power Rangers.” The battle scenes happen in a flash, and there is hardly a shred of believability from the characters (even Statham himself is a clunker). Characters appear and disappear without explanation. One character appears so late in the film, a possible love interest for Solana's brother Bastian (Will Sanderson), that I hardly care why she's there in the first place.

This is Boll’s first PG-13 outing, after three R-rated movies. While there's no sex or really foul language, it doesn't make much difference due to director's lack of cinematic skills. Granted, there are some good choices in the camera work and cinematography, but there’s much room for improvement in Mr. Boll’s career, if he does indeed have one left after this year is done.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Moderate / Sex/Nudity: Minor

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Positive
Positive—My 12 year old son and I watched this and thought it was one of the best movies we had ever seen. As good as Pirates. We recommend it highly.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Excellent! / Moviemaking quality: 5
Ken Stepp, age 52
Neutral
Neutral—I saw this one with my wife on Sat. of opening weekend. The movie was filmed in digital HD which made for spectacular scenery shots as well as seeing the actors facial features in great detail. The story line seemed like it took ideas from many other adventure films like Lord of the Rings, Beowulf and the Kingdom of Heaven, but I never really felt as if I could “ride” along with our hero (who also starred in the Transporter movies) as I could in most films. I found myself anxious for the fight scenes to end and the movie to reach its somewhat predictable conclusion of the rescue to free our heroes captured wife and defeat of the villain. From a Christian perspective, I only remember Burt Reynolds's character (the King) utter a “da__” and a “he__.” I do not remember any swearing from any other character. There was no sex scenes or significant suggestive innuendos. Virtues of courage and honor were portrayed well by the “good guys.”
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3½
Bruce Blackburn, age 49
Negative
Negative—This is the worst movie that I have seen in a long time. First of all, all of the people were horribly cast. Ray Liotta (Good Fellas) was an evil wizard, but he still looks and talks like a gangster. Burt Reynolds is the king which we found hilarious because it is hard to get past his Smokey and the Bandit days. This movie is not supposed to be funny, but we laughed through the while thing because it was so ridiculous. The costumes of the “Krug” looked very similar to the Orcs in Lord of the Rings, but way cheaper. The movie also included elements from the Matrix, ninja movies, and Lord of the Rings. It was a waste of my time and my money. If you must, rent it!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 1½
Holly, age 32
Comments from young people
Positive—I thought the movie was very entertaining and not offensive, which is hard to find these days. The love scenes were very short and innocent. I didn't notice any foul language although there were a number of scenes that a few women showed to much cleavage. The movie had a good story of good triumphing over evil and how an obscure person can rise to greatness. It did have a lot of war violence, which was expected. I feel this was a clean manly film.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 3
Kevin, age 42