ehowton ◾ ◾ A Dungeon Siege Tale

When In the Name of the King was released on DVD it sold for $20. As a fan of the Gas-Powered game, I was interested in seeing it, but despite the big names in the cast, I figured it for a pretty bad movie and asked that she not buy it until it was marked down under $10. Despite my protestations she bought it this past weekend for $13, and even though it turned out to be a low-budget rip-off of The Lord of the Rings (complete with John Rhys-Davies marching toward a re-created Isengard atop a snow-covered ridge with a small 'fellowship' of heroes) I found enough in the film to actually enjoy it.

Leelee Sobieski & Brian J. White

I honestly can't tell you why they chose Jason Statham in the lead role, because despite all the fighting he did, they rarely used his physical abilities in those sequences. And yes, then entire movie was completely predictable, and had almost nothing to do with the video game except in naming locations and fighting the Krug; orc-like creatures fashioned straight out of LOTR with what I've been calling the "Sleestack Effect." In the mid-seventies, my brother and I used to watch a children's television show about a modern-day family who were transported back to the age of dinosaurs. There, they encountered hissing pre-industrial lizard creatures, Sleestacks, who often chased the family through the forest. My brother was afraid of these creatures, cringing when the telltale hissing began offscreen, until I pointed out to him that you could see the zippers of their costumes. In short, the Krug were as disappointingly costumed.

Kristanna Loken

Regardless of these seemingly glaring flaws, the movie was a hoot. Burt Reynolds as an aging king (he looks totally bored in the role) cast along with his Without A Paddle co-star Matthew Lillard who does an excellent job as his sniveling nephew. And Ron Perlman - without makeup! My father has this theory that seems to be standing the test of time about Mr. Perlman: When he's in makeup, he has a great role. When he is not, however...I've decided I want to see Bloodrayne now - another of Uwe Boll's "masterpieces" which have further divided his shrinking fanbase. I'd like to see Kristanna Loken in a lead role rather than just hanging from a tree.

Jason Statham & Claire Forlani

Despite all the cheesy lines and complete disregard for any semblance of real plot development, it was a fun movie to watch, made even more so by the sweeping Henning Lohner (of Media Ventures fame) score, which really surprised me, though critics say it doesn't flow well with the movie. Were I to find even a bootleg of this score, I'd snatch it up.