In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
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In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale -- Ludicrously overblown fantasy adventure, based on a video game, in which a peaceable farmer (Jason Statham) is victimized by an invading army of mutant dogs who are being controlled by an evil wizard (Ray Liotta) and goes off in pursuit of his kidnapped wife (Claire Forlani), eventually having to choose whether to abandon his stubborn independence and ally himself with a wise king (Burt Reynolds) and the good wizard (John Rhys-Davies) who serves him. Director Uwe Boll's banal, lumbering film offers some effective battle scenes, but virtually nothing else. Fantasy violence, an implied nonmarital sexual relationship and one crass insult. A-II -- adults and adolescents. (PG-13)
2008
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege
Ludicrously overblown, overacted and overlong, "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" (Freestyle) is yet another fantasy adventure based on a video game.
Our hero is a peaceable peasant named, with a singular lack of imagination, Farmer (Jason Statham). He lives a medieval "Little House on the Prairie" existence with his wife, Solana (Claire Forlani), and their son, Zeph (Colin Ford), until their uneventful rural lives are torn apart by an invasion of mutant dogs who kill Zeph and kidnap Solana.
These creatures, known as Krug (unrelated, one assumes, to the champagne manufacturers) are controlled by an evil wizard (here called a magus) named Gallian (Ray Liotta). He's conspiring with smarmy aristocrat Duke Fallow (Matthew Lillard) to overthrow Fallow's uncle, the wise King Konreid (Burt Reynolds). Working to defend the king's throne against such machinations is his chief adviser, the good magus Merick (John Rhys-Davies).
As Farmer goes off in pursuit of Solana, he is joined on his quest by brother-in-law Bastian (Will Sanderson) as well as by Norick (Ron Perlman), the man who raised him. Along the way, the stubbornly independent Farmer must decide whether to fight on his own or ally himself with Konreid, as Merick implores him to do.
Director Uwe Boll's epic is banal and lumbering. The battle scenes are effective, but otherwise the film has virtually nothing to offer. Long before the merciful end of its 127-minute duration, one is forced to ask, "In the name of the king, why?"
The film contains fantasy violence, an implied nonmarital sexual relationship and one crass insult. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.