In the Name of the King (4 Stars)

When I watched this film in 2016 I complained that it was too short. This week I bought the director's cut. The original theatrical version is 118 minutes long, and the director's cut is 156 minutes long. The extra 38 minutes greatly improve the film. That's my opinion, at least. The critics aren't convinced. The film still has a whopping 4% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It's about time I stopped referring to that site as if it had some relevance.

As far as I can tell, most of the extra footage is invested in longer battle scenes, but I did recognise a scene with Leelee Sobieski that's not in the theatrical version. This scene tells us a bit more about her character Muriella, the magus' daughter. Jason Statham's character, Farmer, is also better rounded than I remember it from the other version.

Ron Perlman impresses me more every time I see him. The first time I saw him was in "Name of the Rose", one of the few films that I watched in the cinema in the 1980's. Then I forgot about him until "Enemy at the Gates" in 2001. (Those are two films I need to watch again). However, it wasn't until I saw the TV series "Hand of God" that I said, "Wow! This guy is brilliant". I can appreciate his older performances better now. He never does anything wrong.

As far as the acting is concerned, he's similar to Leelee Sobieski, who also appears in the film. They both have a calm, composed way of speaking, but they're both able to switch to displays of deep emotions within seconds. As is to be expected, they're the two actors who carry the film, not Jason Statham in the lead role.

Overall the acting is of high quality. Ray Liotta performs solidly as the evil wizard Gallian, while Matthew Lillard puts on a typical over-the-top performance as Duke Fallow. I wish I could see more of him, but in recent years he's specialised in voice acting for animated films. Burt Reynolds is disappointing as King Konreid. He used to be one of Hollywood's best actors, but he seems to have lost his talent with the passing of years.

The film's greatest weakness is the computer graphics. Castles look artificial, and in distant army scenes it's obvious that the scenes are computer-painted. The film's budget was $60 million. Couldn't a few million have been spent on better computer artists?

"In the Name of the King" is based on the computer game "Dungeon Siege" which was released in 2002, but the similarity to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is so strong that it borders on plagiarism. The primitive Krug look like Orcs, there are two rival mages who used to be friends, and even the shots of the four warriors walking across the mountains look like scenes from the Lord of the Rings films.

I know my readers are already desperate for more screenshots of Leelee Sobieski. Let me give you just one picture. You can click on it to enlarge it it if you need a new Windows wallpaper.

What's that? You want more? Are you sure? Here's the proof that I'd do anything for my readers:

That's Kristanna Loken with Leelee in the last picture. I like tall girls. Leelee is 5'10" and Kristanna is 5'11". They're big, they're tough and they carry swords. How could anyone fail to fall in love with them? If I were in the army facing them I'd have to surrender. My right hand would be quivering too much to hold my sword.

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P.S. The Amazon UK link is to the normal edition. The Director's Cut has only been released in America and Germany.