Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Boll KG Productions & Brightlight Pictures
Blu-ray: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: 162 min
Chapters: 32
Size: 50 GB
Case: Standard Blu-ray case
Release date: December 16, 2008
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: AVC @ 25 Mbps
Audio:
English DTS HD-Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles:
English & Spanish
Extras:
• Director's Commentary
• The Making of In the Name of the King (10.20)
• Deleted & Extended Scenes (9:37)
The Film:
4
Dungeon Siege started life as a computer role-playing game,
developed by Gas Powered Games for Windows PC and Mac
platforms and released in 2002 with a sequel in 2005 and,
since 2006, in a version for PlayStation Portable. Some
clever fellow thought it was the stuff movies are made of.
Or not, depending on the script, casting, direction and
production design. Of these the only one that can't be
completely faulted is the last. In xxxx's hands, we do have
the feeling of a vaguely medieval and mystical landscape,
complete with castles, dungeons, moving forests and armies
of Krug. It's like Lord of the Rings light. Very light.
The basic story is simple enough: A man known as "Farmer"
(Jason Statham) was adopted by the local village as a boy.
He farms. Hard. He has a lovely wife and strong boy. But
deep in the forest, the Krug, normally man/beasts with
nothing on their minds – literally – are attacking the
countryside. This is because the evil wizard, Gallian (Ray
Liotta), has big plans to rule the entire kingdom and he
needs subjects. The Krug will do nicely since they seem to
be killing off most of the men and capturing the women,
children and anyone else handy for their dungeons –
presumably to act as slaves (which is weird, since the Krug
seem to function as slaves already.) In their latest sweep
the Krug kill Farmer's boy and steal his wife, Solana
(Claire Forlani). Their friend, Norrick (Ron Perlman), one
of the few completely level characters in this drama, is
also captured.
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Gallian has been seducing
Muriella (Leelee Sobieski), the daughter of the king's
magus, Merick (John Rhys-Davies), so that he can suck out
her latent powers [good production work here]. Gallian has
also been stringing along Duke Fallow (Matthew Lillard) who
lives for the day he will usurp the throne from his uncle,
King Konreid (Burt Reynolds).
Once Farmer's wife is stolen by the Krug, and Fallow
attempts to poison the king, and Gallian motivates the Krug
into armies, things move along apace. The movie is long, and
seems longer, in part because there are so many non
sequitors. The battle sequences, while necessary, seem to
bog everything down. Strange, that.
But the movie's biggest liability besides the script is the
casting and direction of its actors. Ray Liotta seems to
simply be channeling his wild and crazy ex-con character
from Jonathan Demme's Something Wild. There is no doubt that
Gallian is certifiable, but he is not a 20th century
gangster from New Jersey. Jason Statham, an actor in serious
danger of overexposure these days, is entirely too stiff for
the part of man who only wants to find his wife and avoid
political entanglements. As Farmer's single-minded purpose
transforms, Statham doesn't. Leelee Sobieski, who once did
an admirable turn as Joan of Arc, and therefore should be
comfortable in the period, is peculiarly uncomfortable. She
acts like at any moment someone is going to ask her to
disrobe in front of the entire crew. Perhaps she is the only
one in the cast to comprehend what she has been actually
asked to do: namely be seen in an Uwe Boll movie.
At first blush, Burt Reynolds also seems out of place, but
that's partly because we don't see him as a medieval king.
Funnily enough some of the movie's best moments occur when
Burt is quietly reacting to his nephew's obviously false
declarations of fealty. Ron Perlman, who has made a living
playing monsters, is one of the few completely natural human
beings in this odd
movie. Rhys-Davies makes a great magus but next to Leelee,
he looks more like Rumplestiltzkin. It's funnier than it
should be, especially given her general discomfort.
On the plus side, Brian White is convincing as the king's
military commander, even though it is less clear to us than
it seems to be to him what he wants his troops to do. And
there is Matthew Lillard, who is a delight to watch as the
incompetent pretender to the throne. He gets this crazy look
in his eyes that quickly permeates his entire frame. He is
even nuttier than Gallian, if such is possible.
The whole shebang is directed – or misdirected, more likely,
by Uwe Boll, who has his own production company so has no
one to blame or boast about but himself. The movie, while
peopled with the same characters from one end to the other,
seems to move between concepts and clichés of other
respectable films of the fantasy/action genres, with the
result that it has no soul of its own. In my research I was
a little surprised to discover an astonishing amount of
anti-Boll sentiment in the industry. It deserves no other
mention on this website, but
THIS link should prove entertaining.
Image:
6/8
Aside from a persistent graininess that makes its presence
awkwardly felt in some places more than others, the image
quality far exceeds that of the narrative. Black levels are
adequate and yet, except for scenes in the fiery depths of
Krug mountain, the image appears strangely thin.
Audio & Music:
7/6
While the dialogue, if we can quite call it that, is clear
enough, the audio mix, even with the help of uncompressed
DTS HD-MA feels detached from the action. It's as if most of
the ingredients are there, but they don't come together into
a coherent experience.
Operations:
7
The menu is easily navigable. No tricks, no animations
which, in this case, are probably a good thing. I like that
there are chapter stops for each of the deleted and extended
scenes.
Extras:
2
Perhaps the oddest bonus feature this year is a brief
segment titled "Behind the Scenes." In its peculiar way, the
title describes itself exactly. It is as if someone was
lurking about on the set with a videocam and snatched some
disconnected footage of the filming process, but forgot to
turn on the audio or make any narrative comments of their
own. I caught a few minutes here and there of Boll's
commentary, which struck me as more self-congratulatory (he
seemed genuinely delighted that he was able to sign up these
actors) than revelatory about the making of the film.
Bottom line:
3
Is it possible that Boll was going for camp and not a
serious fantasy adventure? Will we ever know? Is it worth
two and half hours to form an opinion? Is the Blu-ray
sufficiently engaging to make up for the faults of the
movie? On the other hand, I've heard that Uwe Boll is
already in negotiation with our outgoing president for his
next movie. What say you?
Leonard Norwitz
December 20th, 2008
