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This is an over-long, unoriginal, highly derivative swords-and-sorcerers style fantasy that borrows freely from many other sources. Using camera techniques and grand aerial shots reminiscent of Lord of the Rings, producer and director Uwe Boll transforms Doug Taylor’s plodding screenplay into a mess of inappropriate and inconsistent accents, bloodless and cruel carnage, distracting casting, and interminable battles.

This is the vaguely medieval story of Farmer (Jason Statham), who is a, uh, farmer. His village is attacked by the Krugs, mindless beasts transformed into armed warriors by Gallian (Ray Liotta), an evil sorcerer with motives never revealed. Farmer’s young son killed and his lovely wife, Solana (Claire Forlani), is captured with a number of other villagers and carted away to the evil minions’ lair. Farmer grabs his sword and a boomerang (that mysteriously returns to his hand even after it strikes a target) and sets off on a rescue mission with friend Norick (Ron Perlman), whose farm was destroyed. Farmer also recruits his brother-in-law, Bastian (Will Sanderson), who is ripe for revenge after the slaughter of his parents and the disappearance of his sister.

There is a Gandalf-like figure in the form of Merick (John Rhys- Davies), the court wizard, a Magus, to King Konreid (Burt Reynolds, distractingly cast). Merick is the all-wise and all-seeing figure who is destined to be the catalyst to make things right. He’s been training his daughter, Muriella (Leelee Sobieski), in the art, but has underestimated her potential. She’s been visited at night by Gallian, who both lusts after her virginity and has helped her unlock some of her hidden abilities. Muriella will determine to make her father proud during the imminent war with evil. She even manages to find allies in the form of magical tree nymphs led by Elora (Kristanna Loken, who had more lines as the advanced killing android of Terminator 3).

The king’s reign is further threatened by the overly ambitious Duke Fallow (Matthew Lillard), the king’s evil nephew. Fallow has aligned himself with Gallian, who, unbeknownst to Fallow, actually wants to destroy King Konreid to become the supreme ruler of his kingdom and a kingdom to the north populated by the Krugs.

Initially Farmer was reluctant to fight for the king; he only wanted to recover his wife. But a revelation that is neither surprising nor particularly compelling motivates him to align himself with the forces of the kingdom. Led by Commander Tarish (Brian White), Farmer will fight the Krugs side-by-side with the king’s outnumbered legions.

A little research revealed that the screenplay was loosely based on a videogame named Dungeon Siege. I cannot speak to the game, but the film is a lukewarm, disappointing hodgepodge. Statham, Perlman, and Rhys-Davies, no strangers to action- adventure and fantasy, seem to do the best they can with the material, maintaining their professionalism, ignoring the silliness. Leelee Sobieski seems vaguely uncomfortable and out of place, as if she were trying to maintain her composure while on a sinking ship. Reynolds brings nothing regal to his role; he seems to be on autopilot, a breath away from some glib remark more suitable for the Bandit than a king. Matthew Lillard is consistently over the top. And Ray Liotta is channeling any one of the angry mobsters he played so well, but is inappropriate here.

This is Krull meets Lord of the Rings, with neither the campiness of the former nor the grandeur of the latter.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in a fine-looking high definition transfer compressed with the AVC video CODEC. I may not have liked the film, but the visuals can be impressive. Small object detail shines in the many helicopter shots that reveal tiny figures and villages below. Finely grained textures are easily visible in the form of fabric weaves and chain link armor. The video dynamic range is excellent, without a hint of crush on either end. Shadow detail is fine. Edge halos are absent. Color rendition is excellent, from natural flesh tones to the fiery destruction of the village. If you enjoy this type of film, you won’t be disappointed with the visuals.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The sole audio track on this BD is DTS-HD Master 5.1. This is a fine track that is entertaining without being state-of-the-art. The surrounds are quite active, immersing the viewer in the action, but little is routed to the center surround when EX dematrixing is enabled. This would suggest that the surround effects are overwhelmingly discrete in the right and left rear channels. Deep bass is present, but thunder isn’t as persuasive at it should be. The orchestral score by Jessica de Rooij and Henning Lohner is not very memorable, but the music has a pleasing fidelity and is leaked substantially into the surrounds. Sound effects are quite good, but the dynamic range is not outstanding. Voice timbre is quite natural and distortion-free.

The optional subtitles are in Spanish and English, for which Closed Captions are provided.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

You’ll find a feature-length commentary by director Uwe Boll. Frankly, after the disappointing 162-minute film, I couldn’t bear to sit through it again listening to the director.

There are three deleted and extended scenes (9:37, 1.78:1, SD) and they are so similar to the unrated edition on this BD that I could not perceive the differences.

The Making of In The Name Of The King featurette (10:20, non-anamorphic widescreen, SD) is a narration-free behind-the-scenes short. We see the players and director collaborating, and then shooting a few scenes. The viewer will also get a glimpse of some of the shooting techniques used, from cameras on a wire rig for long swooping shots to Steadicam work to add a sense of urgency. We also see some green screen filming, and some wire work. There is nothing particularly illuminating here.

The last supplement is a trailer for The Happening (2:15, 1.85:1, HD).

The 162-minute film is organized into thirty-two chapters.

Final Thoughts

This disappointing and highly derivative effort may have received a nice presentation, but I can’t in good conscious recommend the disc to you. If you saw the film in the theaters and want to own it for reviewing, you will admire the video and the audio. All others might want to wait for Warner to release the Lord of the Rings trilogy on Blu-ray Disc in 2009.