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In
the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
(2007)
I'm a huge fantasy fan, and I can generally overlook
even deep rooted flaws in movies of the genre and enjoy them
nonetheless, but Uwe Boll's video game adaptation In the
Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale is so bad that
my bias toward this type of movie simply isn't strong enough
to pursuade me that it wasn't terrible in virtually every way
possible. How and why an all-star cast such as this would partake
in such a meaningless movie is beyond me. How this movie could
ever see the light of day is even more so.
When the peaceful nation of Ebh is invaded by bloodthirsty
monsters, Farmer (Jason Statham)—yes,
that's his name—sets out on a quest to avenge his ravaged
family. Along the way he finds himself embroiled in political
intrigue as the good King Konreid (Burt Reynolds) fends off
not only ouside invaders but the ambitious Duke Fallow (Matthew
Lillard) whose eyes are ever on his throne, and the dark mage
Gallian (Ray Liotta) who has his own plans for humanity. With
the help of his loyal friends (Ron Perlman, Kristanna Loken
& Will Sanderson), Farmer must rise above his lowly status
to save more than just his captured wife (Claire Forlani),
but the entire nation.
I was incredibly disappointed to realize that the world presented
in In the Name of the King has no depth, no history,
and no mythology, as these are the background elements that
have always drawn me to successful fantasy epics like The
Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia.
Because the world is simply an innert backdrop and not a
living entity of its own, the events of the film seem to be
merely a sequence of scenes played out without any impact or
influence beyond the diagetic progression of the plot.
When characters die, even nobly, there should be some sense
that their sacrifice was worth something, but each and every
character that falls (and there are a lot of them
yet sadly not enough) just sort of dies and the story rolls
on and their deaths are never paid off thematically or narratively. The
final result is a very strong feeling of watching someone else
play an adventure-based video game. Any semblance of partaking
in the adventure yourself is gone.
Further disappointment stems from the fact that there is simply
no effort on anyone's part to put forth a believable performance
in the whole movie, as if they're only in In the Name of
the King to fulfill a contractual obligation put upon
them as a result of losing a bet. Throughout
the movie,I couldn't stop myself from coming back to the question,
"what were they thinking?!" Even with strong
supporting character-actors like Leelee Sobieski, John Rhys-Davies,
Ron Perlman, and Ray Liotta, there's simply nothing there. There's
no chemistry between any of the characters, and it's clear that
most of the poor performances come from the completely worthless
script. Yes, the film is based on a video game, but the writing
in the worst-written video games is better than even the best
presented here. And the same could be said for the performances.
Accents and historical placement have always been hurdles for
the fantasy genre, but In the Name of the King trips
up on both obstacles. No
one has an accent but Statham, who continues to outdo himself
with terrible performances. Even as an action star he's incredibly
lacking in range, but given the shallow depth of this film and
screenplay, it would be a shame for a more skilled actor to helm
it as their talents would be wasted. Completely the opposite,
Ray Liotta has nothing to do with his talent but overdo everything,
from facial expressions to the tone of his voice, and the result
is a laughable villian who does more to doom the film to failure
than he does to torment the land of Ebh.
If there's one lesson to take away from In the Name of the
King it's that the
trappings of a medeival fantasy do not an entertaining movie
make. Sure,
there are sweeping aerial shots of sword battles and horseback
chases
but the sum of these parts isn't enough to make a cohesive
and enjoyable whole. Choppy, awkward editing abruptly
shifts between parallel storylines in a futile attempt
to add depth to the story, but instead it muddies the already
weak plot and lessens the effectiveness of whatever drive there
may have been to the movie.
In
the Name of the King is so poorly executed and so uninspired
that it has the frightening potential to turn audience members
off to one of the most limitless of cinematic genres. For
this Uwe Boll and all involved in the production should be ashamed
and should hope that no one sees the film. But that shouldn't
be too difficult to ensure; they've already done so by
making such a terrible film. The fantasy genre is making a strong
comeback after the unbelieveable success of the The Lord
of the Rings trilogy, but if this is the result, I'd rather
it remain a relic of the Eighties.
-Mark
Moreland
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All contents ©
2004-2007 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Uwe
Boll
Writer: Jason Rappaport & Dan Stroncak, Doug Taylor, Chris Taylor
Starring: Jason
Statham, Leelee Sobieski, John Rhys-Davies, Ron Perlman, Ray Liotta,
Matthew Lillard, Claire Forlani, Kristanna Loken
Distributor: Freestyle
Releasing
Runtime: 127
min
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: January
11, 2008
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