Monday, July 28, 2008

In the Name of the King

I’m a sucker for sword-and-sorcery movies, and I guess this one counts since it has plenty of hacking and slashing and an evil wizard and some monsters. Jason Statham plays Farmer, who does just that, living peacefully on a farm in the kingdom of Ehb with his wife and young son. Then a horde of monsters known as the Krug sweep through the area, burning and killing, and Farmer winds up having to abandon his peaceful life in order to seek revenge and pursue the Krug to rescue some prisoners they’ve taken.

Yep, the first third or so of this movie is actually a Western, in the same way that Robert E. Howard’s story “Beyond the Black River” is a Western. Just substitute “homesteader” for “farmer” and “Comanche” for “Krug”. Farmer’s even got an old galoot sidekick, played by Ron Perlman.

Of course, things get more sorcerous as they go along, and the political intrigue is amped up, too. In other words, the filmmakers start swiping more from J.R.R. Tolkien and Raymond E. Feist than they do from REH, although there are echoes of THE HOUR OF THE DRAGON to be found in much of the movie. The result is an extremely generic, predictable film. On top of that, Ray Liotta as the evil wizard, Burt Reynolds as the King of Ehb, and Matthew Lillard as the king’s evil nephew who wants to overthrow him all seem pretty miscast in those roles, although they try hard and Lillard succeeds fairly well. Then there are goofy, eye-rolling plot developments like the sudden appearance of a bunch of ninjas. Yes, ninjas. (Or in the words of Gus Griswold, “Why did it have to be ninjas?”)

On the plus side, I’ve liked Jason Statham in everything I’ve seen him in, and his screen presence and athleticism serve him very well here. He makes a believable sword-and-sorcery hero. Old pro John Rhys-Davies is fine as always as a good wizard. The special effects are okay, and the frequent action sequences are staged so that you can usually tell what’s going on, always a good thing where I’m concerned. This is a reasonably entertaining film that could have been a lot better, even with the oddball casting of some of the roles, if the script had contained even a single twist or surprise. But it’s worth watching for the swordplay, if you like that sort of thing – and we all know that I do.

8 comments:

Paul Bishop said...

Yep! Statham makes this film as he does with almost everything he appears in.

He's one of the few actors around today whose films I will go and see just because he's in them -- reviews be damned.

This film is by the numbers, but fun none-the-less.

Chris said...

I heard this movie was financed by some guy or group of guys--totally private, in other words. I enjoyed your review, but I'm not sure if I want to see it now! (:

Also, really enjoy this blog and would like to link to it from mine. You also might like my blog. I'm reading Louis L'Amour short stories and novels and writing about them. Click on my name or go to www.lamourproject.com. Would love a link on your page to mine!

Looking forward to reading your past and future posts.

Chris

Charles Gramlich said...

I like Stateham and will probably see this on PPV. I sure wish they'd left the ninjas out though.

AndyDecker said...

Lol, this is an Uwe Boll movie, director of such "gems" like Bloodrayne or Alone in the Dark who is hated by some or most critics. And frankly he hasn´t made one decent movie in his career.

How he gets those actors together is alas a mystery.

Anonymous said...

I'm a Burt Reynolds fan but I have not seen this movie. Does Burt do good in it? I just got his voice on my GPS from Navtones.com and he does a good job on getting me places. As a Burt Reynolds fan, should I see this film?

James Reasoner said...

Chris,

I checked out your blog and am glad to have mine linked to it. I'll get a link to yours added here ASAP.

Anonymous,

I'm actually a Burt Reynolds fan from 'way back (as in, when he was on GUNSMOKE as Quint Asper). The sight of him in crown and robes in this movie made me laugh the first time I saw him, though, and I don't think that was what they were going for. That said, Burt does a fairly good job most of the time and manages to give a pretty underwritten character a little dignity. If you're a fan, sure, go ahead and watch it. Burt doesn't embarrass himself.

Anonymous said...

Right, Burt Reynolds was in GUNSMOKE. I liked him in James Dickey's DELIVERANCE (even after all the lame jokes, still a good flick). His Gator/Smokey & Bandit movies didn't do much for me. But he was great in EVENING SHADE on TV.

Ed Lynskey

James Reasoner said...

Yeah, Burt was really good in DELIVERANCE, which I agree is a fine film. I also liked him a lot in the original version of THE LONGEST YARD, although admittedly that wasn't quite as challenging a role. And even though it was another case of miscasting, I also liked him as Steve Carella in the 87th Precinct movie FUZZ.