In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Reviewer: Tom Leins
Issue 104 June 2008
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A right royal mess?
The Lowdown: When a vicious legion of bloodthirsty half-man/half-beast Krugs rampages through his village, kill his son and kidnap his wife, humble farmhand Farmer (Jason Statham) picks up his sword and wages war on his hideous foes. But who is behind this evil horde? Ray Liotta’s evil magician!
Review: Criticising Uwe Boll movies is like shooting fish in a barrel. But then again, with a track record as disastrous as his, it’s no wonder that critics are loading their ammunition all over again… Boll’s reputation may have hit rock bottom in recent years, but with In The Name Of The King he has attracted easily his best cast yet. With Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Ron Perlman all jostling for space, it seems like Hollywood’s finest are happy to run the gauntlet of career ruination to work with this peculiar German!
In The Name Of The King sees the much-maligned Boll ditch his usual horror stomping ground for a family-friendly fantasy epic. It’s a brave move that could quite easily see him alienate his few remaining fans. Happily, In The Name Of The King is much better than many people will give it credit for. That isn’t to say that it’s a masterpiece – far from it. It’s essentially a cut-price Peter Jackson knock-off that sees Boll regurgitate all manner of The Lord Of The Rings ideas, even coercing Middle Earth alumni John Rhys-Davies into joining in the fun! Sure, it’s wearying, but it’s a perfectly well assembled hodgepodge all the same.
On the plus side, Jason Statham injects some much-needed Brit-grit into proceedings, back-dating his silent-but-violent tough guy image to a land that time forgot. The other redeeming feature is Kristanna Loken’s sexy tree-dwelling Elora!
Copying is neither big nor clever, but Boll gets away with it by the skin of his teeth, providing a solid rainy afternoon of entertainment for small children everywhere.
FILM: 5 EXTRAS: 4
DVD Info:
US Certificate: PG-13
Starring: Jason Statham, Ron Perlman, Ray Liotta, Leelee Sobieski
Directed By: Uwe Boll, 2007
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Visuals: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Running Time: 127mins
Price: £16.99
Special Features:
Scene Selection
Deleted/Extended Scenes
‘Behind-The-Scenes’ Featurette
