Film Bites

The Kingdom of Ebh is under siege from the Krug, a beast-like race of mindless warriors. Caught in the random pillaging of the countryside is a man named Farmer(Statham). After his wife(Forlani) is kidnapped by the Krug, and his son murdered, Farmer vows to rescue her and attain vengeance. Meanwhile, King Konreid(Reynolds), who is near death, is struggling with the decision to go to war against the Krug or not. His nephew, Duke Fallow(Lillard) is a royal pain-in-the-a**, being a drunk, harboring enemies of the state in the king’s castle and generally being useless and a waste of space.

Merick(Rhys-Davies) the King’s personal advisor, and one of the last great mages, knows that the Krug are being led by his foe, Gallian(Liotta). Gallian is wooing Merick’s daughter, Muriella(Sobieski), and stealing her magic powers for his own use. Merick, knows of a secret that will unite the Kingdom when King Konreid dies. This secret also holds the key to destroying Gallian and ending the terror caused by the Krug.

This film is a testament to the fact that having name-brand actors in a film, does not mean it will be any good. With names like Statham, Perlman, Sobieski, Forlani, Liotta, and Reynolds, I venture director Uwe Boll believed he had a hit on his hands. Anyone who has seen the film, knows he was wrong. Really wrong. Heck, you only had to see the previews to know this film wasn’t going to be any good.

The characters were superficial; the idea that a character is named Farmer, because that’s what he does, is ridiculous. The dialog was unemotional and at all the wrong times, laughable. The action sequences and cinematography were stolen from other films; panning shots of marching hoards stolen from Lord of the Rings, great landscapes reminiscent of Chronicles of Narnia, and even sword fights that used Matrix-like stop-motion camera work.

I haven’t played any of the Dungeon Siege video games, but I’m going to assume they weren’t half bad. There have been two stand-alone games and an expansion pack, so 2K Games must be doing something right. The problem is, someone thought it would make a good movie. They were wrong. Video game fantasy is best left to just that, video games. There is something immersing about a video game that can not be portrayed in a 2 hour movie. Spend a little more money and time; go buy the games and skip the movie.