as if you needed further proof of Uwe Boll’s talent (or lack thereof), In the Name of the King 3 is yet another entry into his lackluster resume. But unlike some of his “finer” films, this is merely a generically bad movie with no redeeming value and not even bad enough to mock. Purcell looks utterly bored and turns in an uninspiring performance.
In the Name of the King: The Last Mission
(2014)
Genre(s): Fantasy, Adventure
Fox | R – 86 min. – $29.99 | March 11, 2014
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MOVIE INFO: DISC INFO: Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) |
THE MOVIE – 1.25/5
Visionary director Uwe Boll delves once more into the well, and supposedly for the last time, in the Dungeon Siege series with In the Name of the King: The Last Mission a hapless piece of cinema with nary a plot nor three-dimensional characters, not that the acting helped matters.
Through frenetic editing and direction, this entry introduces us to Hazen Kaine (DOMINIC PURCELL), a hired gun/thug who kills with finesse and breaks necks with ease when a gun just won’t do. It opens with a random hotel kill and there’s a moment where he sits on the bed apparently contemplating what he had done but I actually think that was Purcell wondering what the hell happened to his career…
Anyway, Kaine works for your random crime lord and the job was supposed to be his last but RCL persuades him for one final job: kidnap two daughters of a rich guy, place them in a dungy container and leave for RCL and his crew to pick up and get a hefty ransom for which Kaine will be paid handsomely. He apparently has no problem with this and does his job but before leaving the girls, he notices one of them is wearing a medallion which matches a tattoo on his arm, of course he snatches the emblem and locks the girls inside. Outside, he compares the medallion with the tat and just then a wormhole opens and he’s sucked through to medieval times. Yeah, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and the explanation of him having that tattoo doesn’t hold mustard either. But asking for logic in a Uwe Boll movie is pointless.
Now in medieval times, he fends off a dragon and receives the support from sisters Arabella (RALITSA PASKALEVA) and Emeline (DARIA SIMEONOVA) and take him to a shaman named Ulric (BASHAR RAHAL) who serves as one of many outlets for exposition. The two ladies fill out the remainder explaining their back story as they want revenge on Tervin (MARIAN VALEV) who killed the king, his brother and the girls’ father (which makes Tervin their uncle which makes the fact his wanting to marry Arabella especially creepy), and became king of the land ruling like most murderers with an iron fist.
Kaine’s only mission is to get back home having no real desire to free the people of the kingdom from the tyrant but it is said tyrant who just so happens to hold the relic to open the portal once more so he signs on to fight. To fill the rest of the movie we get a weak romantic flare between Kaine and Arabella who at first detests Kaine after she finds out his profession as a hit man and child kidnapper, though unsurprisingly he manages to win back her heart.
Ok, let’s cut to the brass: In the Name of the King: The Last Mission is just an all around bad movie. It’s not a so funny bad or “MST3K” mocking bad, just bad in the most generic way. And this is also another example of Uwe Boll is a hack filmmaker who somehow manages to get the financing for these projects, perhaps it’s in part due to his outlandishly entertaining personality.
Outside of the direction, not much else works including the cast. Dominic Purcell continues his streak of appearing in crap DTV flicks following movies like Escapee, Hijacked, Suddenly, Vikingdom and most recently Ice Soldiers. But unlike all of those films, this one he genuinely looked disinterested in every gaze, glance and just general movement. I know he worked with Boll before on Assault on Wall Street but this seemed to be a quick two week job with a paycheck to pay off loans or the mortgage.
The supporting cast is hardly worth mentioning with bad accents and just all around poor performances. Ralitsa Paskaleva for her part isn’t terrible and she’s nice to look at but like others, including the main character, the role is at best two-dimensional and only served to advance a thin plot.
Uwe Boll has promised In the Name of the King: The Last Mission to be the final entry into the series but that’s hardly a relief knowing he’ll continue to get financing on some half-baked action movie starring some hapless actor or actress willing to take any work that comes their way. So as it stands, this is probably the worst in the series however that’s really not saying a whole lot.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.0/5
The only feature is a simple Making of In the Name of the King: The Last Mission (14:38; HD) featurette providing behind-the-scenes footage and on-set sound bites from members of the cast and crew.
Also included is a Digital Copy redemption code for streaming or downloading to your mobile device.
Previews – Out of the Furnace, RoboCop
VIDEO – 4.0/5
Fox releases In the Name of the King 3 on Blu-ray presented in 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. Like most cheap direct-to-video films, this is not the prettiest looking film as the picture is a bit too pristine but details are well defined and colors bright and colorful. There were also no obvious signs of artifacts or pixilation.
AUDIO – 4.25/5
The movie comes with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track which is, to say the least, robust especially during the opening credits where the LFE/bass kicks in to the point where I was getting a headache and I’m pretty sure my neighbors could even feel it. But outside of that heavy usage, the dialogue sounds good and the action scenes, such as they are, help showcase the remaining channels.
OVERALL – 1.5/5
Overall, as if you needed further proof of Uwe Boll’s talent (or lack thereof), In the Name of the King 3 is yet another entry into his lackluster resume. But unlike some of his “finer” films, this is merely a generically bad movie with no redeeming value and not even bad enough to mock. Purcell looks utterly bored and turns in an uninspiring performance and the plot so thin it’s amazing there’s even a credit writer. The Blu-ray released by Fox has a simple behind-the-scenes featurette while the audio/video transfers are both above average.
The Movieman
Published: 03/17/2014