Release Date: December 16th, 2008
Running Time: 163 minutes

The Film

There are a lot of filmmakers who are consistently defecated on by critics, but none more so than Uwe Boll. His countless video game adaptations have earned near-unanimous, venomous rage from both fans and critics. Despite the overwhelming negativity surrounding his career, Boll continues to have the opportunity to make films. In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (Unrated Director’s Cut) isn’t the saving grace Uwe Boll may have been hoping for, but neither is it as abhorrent as his critics have so eloquently stated.

The fantasy film stars Jason Statham as Farmer, a…farmer in a small village in the kingdom of Ehb. One day his wife, Solana (Claire Forlani), and his son set off for another town to sell vegetables. Meanwhile Farmer’s village is attacked by orc-wannabes called Krugs. Farmer enlists the help of his neighbor, Norrick (Ron Perlman), and the two set off to get to Farmer’s family before the Krugs do. Too late. His son is killed and his wife captured. The Krugs are under the control of the wizard Gallian (Ray Liotta) who has been building an army to wipe out King Konreid (Burt Reynolds) and claim the lands as his own. Unbeknownst to the King, Gallian has inside help from the King’s nephew, Fallow (Matthew Lillard). With these events as the backdrop, Farmer sets off with a band of warriors to find his wife and discover his true destiny.

In the Name of the King is a very mixed effort. Like most of Boll’s films, the dialogue is campy to the point of being laughable, and usually excellent actors push through the lines like zombies. Still, casting Statham as the lead ensured there is a respectable amount of mindless violence. The problem is that no one area is done particularly well. At nearly three hours, the story isn’t anywhere near good enough to keep your attention. Likewise, the action is far too bloodless to excite gore hounds. Couple that with sub-par effects, and you have a film that exists in the purgatory of mediocrity. But this is just my humble opinion. If you enjoy the film then don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

The Disc

The video is presented in a 2.35:1, 1080p High Definition transfer. Colors are consistently accurate, not oversaturated, and don’t bleed into each other. Black levels are also inky without causing much shadow crush. Fine detail is excellent in close ups, but the backgrounds don’t produce much depth. The worst offense I saw, and it is still minor, was that grain tended to muddle the details in the action scenes.

The audio is offered in an English DTS 5.1 Master Lossless audio track with English/Spanish subtitles. For an epic fantasy film, I was very disappointed. The problems aren’t technical, but rather come from a sound design standpoint. The battle scenes lack depth and intricacy. The positional effects are generic, and the battles aren’t as multi-layered as they could be. The sound design isn’t complex enough to truly draw you into the scenes. The dynamic range is good, but again is rather stock. Dialogue is clear as well.

The Extras

Very few special features are offered.

Director Uwe Boll provides Commentary. No matter what you think about his filmmaking skills, Boll is always an entertaining speaker. Passionate and unforgiving in his opinions, his tracks are like listening to a debate.

The “Making Of” featurette runs ten minutes and is mostly fly-on-the-wall production footage with no direction or narration.

Lastly, a tepid Deleted Scene rounds out the disc.

Final Thoughts

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (Unrated Director’s Cut) is far from Boll’s worst film, but is still a very mixed effort in the fantasy genre. The new cut won’t change any opinions, and the special features are still very bland, offering little incentive to upgrade to this new Blu-ray disc.