In the Name of the King

Another videogame adaptation from Uwe Boll, who's gained a reputation as the modern-day Ed Wood, In the Name of the King is based on an apparently popular piece of software called Dungeon Siege. Set in a quasi-medieval era of sorcery and mayhem, the story pits a heroic peasant called Farmer (Jason Statham) against an evil wizard who is working with a malevolent duke towards unseating the benevolent king of a realm far, far away. Turning his plowshares into swords after the wizard's army kills his son and kidnaps his wife, Farmer, aided by his grizzled adoptive father, takes off to avenge his boy and rescue his bride, eventually joining forces with the king and the beautiful daughter of his chief advisor, as well as a reclusive forest tribe led by vine-swinging nymphs. As presented by the apparently indefatigable Boll—with bargain-basement CGI, drab cinematography, and a script replete with howlers—In the Name of the King is an interminable bore, marked by a scenery-chewing performance by Ray Liotta as the wizard and a soporific one by Burt Reynolds as the king. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, three deleted/extended scenes (10 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for an unimpressive film.] (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray Review—Jan. 20, 2009—Fox, 162 min., not rated, $29.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2007's In the Name of the King sports a good transfer and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Uwe Boll, a 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, three deleted/extended scenes (10 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: the “unrated director's cut” here punishes viewers with an additional 30-plus minutes of bad filmmaking that may look better in Blu, but is still bad.]