In the Name of the King

You've got to hand it German director Uwe Boll, he really has some bollocks - although a lot of people reckon that what he makes is a load of bollocks. Boll is reviled by critics for his videogame adaptations, and even slugged it out in the boxing ringing with some of them. But his chutzpah goes beyond a bit of pugilistic revenge. Despite his constant drubbing he still managed to $60 million and attract a big cast of name actors for his latest movie, IN THE NAME OF THE KING, based on the Dungeon Siege game.

It is pretty stock standard swords and sorcery fantasy fare, with kings, wizards, tree people, evil guys with troll armies and the everyman hero. While it may sound like a poor man's version of a better-known trilogy this does have less walking and more fighting, which is hardly surprising given the cast. The lead is played gruff-voiced cockney rebel action man Jason Statham (The Transporter) as the unlikely family man called Farmer married to English Rose Claire Forlani (CSI:NY). His best friend is Ron Perlman (HELLBOY). On the side of good is the legendary Burt Reynolds (SMOKEY AND THE BANDITS) as the King, and John Rhys-Davies (TLOTR) as his wizard, along with Kristanna Loken (TERMINATOR 3) and Brian J White (Moonlight). In the other corner is Ray Liotta (GOODFELLAS) as the evil Gallian, who controls an army of Krugs (think Orcs), and Matthew Lillard (Shaggy in the SCOOBY DOO movies), who is by far the best thing in the movie as the ambitious Duke.

The story is predictable, the dialogue is stilted and clichéd but, for the most part, the action sequences are competently handled, even if they are not a match for Peter Jackson's battles, but then what do you expect for a game adaptation? Art or literature? It is mindless entertainment and better than a lot of genre movies, and equally, also worse than a lot. Despite what the critics saw, Boll is a competent filmmaker, and his films are better than anything most of his critics have ever made, he's just not a great filmmaker. Yet anyone that can run a film set the size of IN THE NAME OF THE KING must have some redeeming qualities, even if it is just big balls.

IN THE NAME OF THE KING is out now on DVD and Blu-ray from Metrodome and available from major retailers including Amazon and Play.