Like him or not, Uwe Boll lives on churning out one crap movie after another, and BloodRayne 3 is no different. Obviously the man has the personality, ego and I guess enough charm to get the financing for his films and this latest, while not completely awful, still wasn’t a good movie at all.
BloodRayne: The Third Reich (2011)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Horror, Action
Phase 4 Films | UNRATED – 79 min. – $29.99 | July 5, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Uwe Boll
Writer(s): Michael C. Nachoff (written by)
Cast: Natassia Malthe, Brendan Fletcher, Michael Pare, Clint Howard
DISC INFO:
Features: Commentary, Featurettes, Trailers
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.78
Subtitles: English
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – 1.75/5
Hide the children and lock up your money because Uwe Boll is back and he’s prepared to unleash more pain upon society with: BloodRayne: The Third Reich, the second sequel of a franchise no one really wanted after the failure of the first one. How does this one hold up with the others? Better for sure, but that’s not saying a whole lot especially considering a gave the first two a 1/5 and 1.25/5 respectively. This means by BloodRayne 6, the franchise will reach mediocre or average status…
The first BloodRayne took place in medieval times, the sequel in the wild West and now we’re into the 1930s Nazi Germany. Rayne (NATASSIA MALTHE reprising her role from BloodRayne II: Deliverance) is fighting against the Nazis in their strive to rid the world of the Jews and when the film opens she, along with a rag tag of rebels, take on Commandant Ekart Brand (MICHAEL PARE), a ruthless man who she easily dismantles and sucks him dry, but there’s one slight side effect: apparently their blood streams mixed (or something) and Brand did not die and in fact has her strengths including being a Day Walker (a vampire who can live in the daylight).
Meanwhile, Rayne kind of joins in with the rebel forces as they strategize their next move. During this time, we meet Dr. Mangler (CLINT HOWARD putting on an obnoxious accent) who sees the aspects of Rayne’s blood being the key to Hitler taking over the world, of course Brand begins to become power hungry…
The rest of the film is filled with mundane and forgettable fight scenes, a dumb storyline I had no interest in and characters so one-dimensional that when one of them dies, Uwe Boll actually wants us to care about it, which doesn’t happen. This is a trademark of Boll’s where he gives us some sexy chicks and tight outfits (no problem with that) but has little to no substance behind it all which in itself would be OK if only the movies he does were actually entertaining.
Another problem I had with the film was other than maybe Clint Howard who, with his ridiculous accent, knew what kind of movie he was in, chewing every bit of scenery possible. Unfortunately his fellow cast mates, including Ms. Malthe looked either bewildered or utterly bored, and I’m leaning towards the latter. Even her final line which I’m sure Boll felt would be the kick ass moment where crowds would cheer and applaud was delivered with absolute disinterest.
All that said, BloodRayne: The Third Reich is a slight step up from the previous two entries but as I stated, that’s not saying a whole lot (it’s like saying Superman IV is better than Batman & Robin). Like Boll’s other films, there is quality in the production and costume designs which here, while nothing outstanding, is fairly good. But otherwise it’s yet another ego-booster for the filmmaker from Germany and a nice tax write-off for the producers.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5
Feature Commentary – Writer Michael C. Nachoff and Director Uwe Boll provide an interesting track delving into everything from the actors, writing and locations. Say what you will about Boll, the man rarely disappoints with his commentaries and this one is lively enough.
The Making of BloodRayne: The Third Reich (28:01; SD) is your basic behind-the-scenes featurette where the cast and crew, especially Uwe Boll, boast about making the movie and goes into the locations and casting.
Interview with the Writer (5:19; SD) goes into how the screenwriter approached this script. It’s really not worth watching.
Last up is the Original Trailers (1:13; HD) and an Alternate Trailer (1:14; HD).
VIDEO – 4.5/5
BloodRayne: The Third Reich is presented with a 1.78 aspect ratio and surprisingly visually pleasant 1080p high-definition. Although there’s not a lot of color in the film save for Malth’s red streaks, the picture itself is well detailed throughout and has a fair amount of natural film noise. I didn’t notice any signs of dust or scratches nor were there any obvious scenes that were soft which I expected from a release like this.
AUDIO – 4.0/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is more than adequate and shows off the lazy-ass fight scenes with each “kick” and “punch” and also shows off some depth with a generic score from long-time Uwe Boll collaborator Jessica de Rooij.
OVERALL – 2.0/5
Overall, like him or not, Uwe Boll lives on churning out one crap movie after another, and BloodRayne 3 is no different. Obviously the man has the personality, ego and I guess enough charm to get the financing for his films and this latest, while not completely awful, still wasn’t a good movie at all. The Blu-ray at least has good video and audio transfers while the features aren’t anything to write home about.
The Movieman
Published: 06/22/2011