Jason Statham surrounded by his enemies IN THE NAME OF THE KING:A DUNGEON SIEGE TALE(2008).
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Mania Grade: D+
DVD: In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Rating: PG-13
Starring: Jason Stratham, Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds,,Lee Lee Sobieski, John Rhys-Davies
Written By: Doug Taylor
Directed By: Uwe Boll
Distributor: Fox Home Entertainment
Original Year of Release: 2008
Extras: Behind the Scenes Featurette

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In the Name of the King

A review of this DVD can be summed up in two words: Uwe Boll.  The director, who gave us House of the Dead, Bloodrayne, and Alone in the Dark, returns with yet another video game adaptation, In the Name of the King.  It just goes to prove that even when given a sizable budget ($60 million) Boll still can’t deliver anything remotely resembling a good film.

Let’s start with the casting…Who on Earth thought Burt Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Leelee Sobieski and Matthew Lillard would be good fits for a heroic fantasy film?  Liotta, who is the villainous Gallian, looks like he’s playing Henry Hill as an evil wizard.  Reynolds looks silly as the aging King of Ehb, not to mention completely bored.  Lillard, best known for playing Shaggy in the Scooby Doo films, is just as obnoxious here as the king’s treacherous nephew. 

The story concerns the Wizard Gallian’s attempt to takeover the Kingdom of Ehb.  To do so he has raised an army of Krugs (think Orcs) and used his magic to make them more intelligent (think Saruman and the creation of the Uruk-Hai).  He sends his armies across the land attacking villages and kidnapping the people to be used as slaves in his underground pits, again in a scene straight out of LOTR: The Two Towers. 

Jason Stratham is a modest Farmer whose name, and get this, is Farmer!  He has no idea who his parents were and was raised by Norick (Ron Perlman).  Without a name of his own, he took the name Farmer because that’s what he is.  Makes you wonder what Norick called him when he was a child.  Norick and Farmer battle the Krugs until Norick and Farmer’s wife are captured.  Farmer eventually meets up with the King’s army where he finally learns about his past from the King’s wise Magus (John Rhys-Davies).  And of course this sets up a showdown between Farmer and Gallian with the fate of the kingdom in the balance.

There are a few good special effects in the film such as the Magus’ ability to turn into a puff of smoke and jet away.  The Krugs look like Orcs except that instead of make-up, they use cheap masks.  They all look alike although Boll was smart enough to never give you a long close-up of their faces.  Kristanna Loken is also in the film as Elora, the leader of a group of women who live in the treetops, clearly patterned after Elves. 

The only time you normally notice editing is when it’s very bad and I noticed the editing a lot in this film.  Scenes shift with an annoying abruptness.  On more than one occasion I thought my DVD had perhaps skipped a scene because the scene change was so sudden. 

In the Name of the King features some of the most boring battle scenes I’ve ever seen.  Men and Krugs get killed but it’s all dreadfully sanitized.  There’s no blood or gore to give the fights any sort of realism.  On another note of authenticity, some of the actors such as Rhys-Davies and Clare Forlani, have English accents while Sobieski, playing the Magus’ daughter, does not.  It just drives home the point that these are actors playing at being in a medieval fantasy film.

About the only positives in the film was Stratham’s athleticism and Liotta’s performance.  Even playing Henry Hill as an evil wizard, he was still fun.

Extras