The story is Lord of the Rings boiled down with the fat separated out. The problem is that rather than take the good stock, Uwe Boll scraped off the layer of fat, added some of his own lard and dropped it in the deep fryer with a healthy dose of cheese. If you couldn't tell, this is not exactly going to help you with your cholesterol level.
Their respective journeys begin as vicious orc-like creatures called Krug attack. During the attack Farmer's wife is kidnapped and his son killed. Well, enough is enough. Farmer, with a pair of friends head off on a journey to get to the bottom of the Krug attack and find his wife. Back at the castle, Fallow and Gaillan plot their next move as the Krug continue their rampage.
Before long, everyone's paths cross and secrets are revealed. If you don't guess what comes up during these revelations, you haven't been paying close enough attention. Everything plays it in a predictable manner that you will see coming miles away, even through all of the allusions to better films. It is an absolutely mind-numbing experience. In order to survive the flick, be sure to have your sarcasm stretched out and ready to run.
At just north of two hours, In the Name of the King is a good 20-30 minutes too long. This is no Lord of the Rings and Uwe Boll is no Peter Jackson. The action scenes drag on and on and become dreadfully dull. The choreographed skirmishes don't offer anything of real interest, are bereft of blood (to avoid an R rating), and many of the blows don't land convincingly.
The performances are a mix of genuine earnestness and over-the-top hamminess. Jason Statham leads the cast and comes out of the experience relatively unscathed. He has the bad ass persona down to a T. Now, he does not really have a lot to do here, but he comes out Okay. On the other hand, Burt Reynolds and Matthew Lillard are completely miscast, these two have no place in a fantasy movie, and it shows. The two are just over the top in their performances and just feel off. As for the women in the film, Claire Forlani, Leelee Sobieski, and Kristanna Loken, they are given little to nothing to do other than look pretty, which they succeed at. I would be remiss if I did not mention Ray Liotta who seemed to know he wasn't supposed to be there and chose to take his performance as far as he could go with it.
Uwe Boll has been accused of being the worst director currently working. I don't feel that is completely accurate, but he sure doesn't shy away from controversy and seems to welcome being a target for derision. He has also been compared to Ed Wood in terms of his bad filmmaking, and that works on one level, but I have to believe that while Ed Wood was so in love with the art of movie making, Uwe has to be at least somewhat aware of the poor films he is helming.
Bottomline. This is not a good movie, but given the right friends and the right circumstances this can provide some fun. Still, this is not a good movie and I really doubt that Boll has a good movie in him.
Not Recommended.
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