Uwe Boll strikes again! The German "director", who has built a reputation as a master of modern trash cinema with numerous video game adaptations, was allowed to blow a hefty budget on his latest prank. And with Jason Statham, Burt Reynolds, Ray Liotta or Ron Pearlman he even has some promising names on the cast list. Dr. Boll will not have brought a decent film to the screen??
"Swords of the King - Dungeon Siege" is set in the kingdom of Ehb, which faces dark times. The dark wizard Gallian (Ray Liotta) has succeeded in drawing the cruel Krugs, a relentless race of animalistic warriors, to his side. With their help, he intends to pillage and plunder the entire country - captives are either killed outright or enslaved.
The simple farmer Farmer (Jason Statham), is drawn into battle against the Krugs when they kill his son and kidnap his wife Solana (Claire Forlani). With his friend Norick (Ron Pearlman) and aging wizard Merick (John Rhys-Davies), he sets out to free his wife. But what Farmer doesn't yet suspect is that his role in the battle for the kingdom will take on much greater proportions.
No question: "Swords of the King - Dungeon Siege" is Uwe Boll's best and most entertaining film to date. However, that statement weighs about as much as saying I had the most pleasant anesthesia-free root canal of my life so far today - it doesn't really make it pleasant either. Boll may be a good businessman. There's no other way to explain the fact that he keeps finding backers for his machinations. But even with a high budget and good actors, one thing cannot be hidden: Boll is simply not a good filmmaker. Or to put it another way: Boll is not really a filmmaker at all. Because he simply lacks any sense of directing his actors, telling a good story, or directing exciting action.
The bored faces of Ray Liotta and Burt Reynolds are clear evidence that the actors didn't really give their all. And Jason Statham's acting, which fits perfectly in movies like "Crank" or "Transporter", seems absolutely out of place here and just plain embarrassing. But what's worse is that Boll has so brazenly stolen all the ideas from other movies, from the music to the special effects to entire settings, that you can't help but feel like you're not being taken seriously at all as a viewer. If I spend 7 Euro for a movie ticket, I can really expect that the director at least tries a little bit to hide his own lack of ideas. However, Boll doesn't make such an attempt. If at least the action sequences would have been successful, this could just be overlooked.
But here again B-quality is the order of the day. Some sequences seem to repeat themselves again and again and at the big finale the powerful wizard has nothing better to do than to attack the strong heroes with books. How there is supposed to come up rousing tension remains a mystery. Surely: who buys a ticket for a Uwe Boll movie, can not have great expectations of what runs across the screen. And then "Swords of the King - Dungeon Siege" also has an undeniable entertainment value. But viewed quite objectively, this Boll opus is again just celluloid trash without inspiration, without a hint of originality, and with a lot of wasted talent. Too bad about the money!
Original title: In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Directed by Uwe Boll
Length: approx. 127 min.
FSK: age 12+
Ein Artikel von Frankfurt-Tipp
