I wouldn't change a thing. It's been a while since I've seen Hollywood filmmaking this unsafe and unhinged.
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2008)
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Synopsis: Much like cult-favorites LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER and MORTAL KOMBAT, IN THE NAME OF THE KING: A DUNGEON SIEGE TALE is a fantasy-adventure based on a popular video game series, Dungeon Siege. The film follows the simple but heroic and fearless Farmer, portrayed by Jason Statham (THE... Much like cult-favorites LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER and MORTAL KOMBAT, IN THE NAME OF THE KING: A DUNGEON SIEGE TALE is a fantasy-adventure based on a popular video game series, Dungeon Siege. The film follows the simple but heroic and fearless Farmer, portrayed by Jason Statham (THE TRANSPORTER, THE ITALIAN JOB), as he gets caught up in the brink-of-war tensions of King Konraid (Burt Reynolds), his back-stabbing nephew Duke Fallow (Matthew Lillard), and the evil wizard, Gallian (Ray Liotta). The film features similar plot-points to the critically acclaimed THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy (2001-2003), including a sinister beastly army parallel to LOTR's orcs of Mordor, called the Krugs, responsible for killing members of Farmer's family and kidnapping his wife, Solana (Claire Forlani). High- adventure follows, as Farmer, and his brother-in-law Bastian (Will Sanderson) and friend Norick (Ron Perlman) pursue the Krugs, which lead them to a vast underground lair of enslaved humans, orchestrated by Gallian, as he seeks to create and rule a hellish underworld with magic and mysticism. The film also includes John Rhys-Davis (THE LORD OF THE RINGS, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) as Merick, a noble wizard, and the King's closest confidante and spiritual healer; and Leelee Sobieski (THE WICKER MAN) as Merick's daughter, who as the scorned lover of Gallian, has put the kingdom at great risk. Although some of the all-star cast seems a bit out of place in a sword-and-sorcerer epic, video game fans won't mind much as the majority of the two-hour film contains nonstop action and intriguing fantasy characters. [More]
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Starring: Jason Statham, Leelee Sobieski, Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, John Rhys-Davies
Screenwriter: Doug Taylor
Story: Jason Rappaport, Dan Stroncak, Doug Taylor
Producer: Shawn Williamson, Daniel Clarke
Composer: Henning Lohner, Jessica de Roij
DVD Info
Release:
Mar 4, 2009
DVD Features:
- Keep Case
- Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English
- Subtitles - English, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
- Deleted Scenes
- Extended Scenes
- Featurette - Behind The Scenes
Reviews
Why in the world would I give a terrible, terrible move 1 star?Well, how can I call a film worthless when it's so awful that it provides unintended laughs?
Not only is Dungeon Siege the best film of Uwe Boll's career, but it's also guaranteed not to be the worst one released in its year.
Only Uwe Boll would assume that the moviegoing public craved a trashy Lord of the Rings rip-off starring Burt Reynolds and Matthew Lillard, and only he could then manage to make such a potentially riotous endeavor so humorless.
Uwe Boll uses his biggest budget ever to produce a cheap knockoff of LOTR, complete with an Orc-like army of beasts called Krug, elfin woodland beings, and a wizard-esque magus played by John Rhys-Davies, but without a comprehensible plot.
...like a Florida dinner theater production of The Lord of the Rings...
When King Burt Reynolds says, 'What kind of joke do the gods play on me?,' we feel the pain of a downslide that took him from No. 1 box-office star to appearing in an Uwe Boll schlockfest.
This Lord of the Rings wannabe gives fantasy adventures a bad name.
Just where this kingdom is I don't know, but since the king of the title is played by Burt Reynolds, I'm guessing it's the Lost Continent of Atlanta.
Boll is in fact fascinating - largely because his movies assume their audiences exist in an alternate dimension of human experience.
Like all Uwe Boll films, it is terrible. Sadly, it is perhaps not terrible enough.
Part of (the) sizable budget must have been spent on a medieval era cosmetic dental plan. I've never seen so many perfectly straight sparkling pearly whites in a time of brutes and hand-to-hand brutality.
Offers scenic locations, some passable special effects, a couple of large-scale battles, and an exceptionally incongruous cast ill-served by feeble scripting and indifferent direction.
A magnum dopus so utterly inept that it somehow comes off as perversely admirable. The other two people at Friday's matinee seemed to enjoy it, too.
Brevity is the soul of camp, and at close to two-and-a-half hours, Boll's film is just too exhausting to be fun.
The director, Uwe Boll, remains committed to long, dull, mediocre action films. His tenacity is a virtue.
If this isn't Boll's best effort to date, it's better than his usual output. If he can continue to improve, his name may no longer be synonymous with a punch line.
Like actors in an amateur stage play, the large, mostly all-star -- or has-been star -- cast of In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale look, rather dazedly, to be playing dress-up.
Uwe Boll isn't the worst director in the world, but In the Name of the King might be more enjoyable if he were.
Boll clearly still has no idea how to direct or edit a movie, but there is evidence to suggest he has at least learned how to shoot one.
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In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale at IGN
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale at AskMen


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