V.G. Movies #45: In The Name Of The King 2: Two Worlds.

[Welcome back to the Evolution of Video Game Movies series. Every week, I will be moving forward through time, starting with the earliest and ending with the most recent of video game movies. I will be detailing the histories of the games and how the films came about, and both my and fan reaction to the adaptations. Practically all of my background information is either common knowledge or from Wikipedia. So without further ado, let's move on to the next film on the list.]

THE HISTORY

This movie isn't nearly as baffling as its predecessor, though why Boll would make a sequel to one of his biggest bombs is beyond me. And if you remember, I actually kinda liked (in a this is cheesy awesome kind of way) the first film. I actually considered it to be Boll's second best film next to the non-ironically good Rampage. But a sequel he did make... that has nothing really to do with the games except I guess the setting. And it lacks all the totality of awesome casting choices of the first film. So I wonder how this one will turn out...

THE FILM

While the film might not have a giant, bizarre case, that doesn't stop the film from being a little wacky. The film begins in present day, where an ex-Special Forces soldier named Granger (Dolph Lundgren) helps out at a martial arts studio for kids and then goes home and drinks due to a failed mission where he lost his team. But then a witch from the medieval kingdom of Ehb shows up and brings him back to her time, as he is the man who will fulfill a prophecy. He is hired by a dubious king called Raven (Locklyn Munro) to find and take down a supposedly evil sorceress called the Holy Mother (Christina Jastrzembska). To get to her, he teams up with a female doctor named Manhatten (Natassia Malthe) and the king's best soldier, Allard (Aleks Paunovic). And, of course, not everything is as it seems.

Unlike the first film, this one only has two really bizarre casting choices. First is the time-traveling Dolph Lundgren as our hero, and the second is poor man's Ryan Reynolds, Locklyn Munro. It's not quite up there with King Burt Reynolds and Evil Sorcerer Ray Liotta, but it's still goofy seeing Locklyn Munro as a tyrant king. And while I do believe Dolph Lundgren more as ex-special forces than I do Jason Statham as a lowly farmer, I gotta say... I do prefer Statham.

But that's not to say Lundgren wasn't "good" here. He was cheesy as hell, and the film was damn entertaining for it. From his voice-overs to his wacky fish-out-of-water dialogue, I actually laughed out loud on more than one occasion from the silliness of everything. The worst acting here actually came from Dr. Manhatten (...sans the blue penis). She had some terrible dialogue and delivered it with such little emotion that it became so stupidly ridiculous.

The action/suspense scenes were goofy, as well. From Manhatten willingly throwing herself down the side of a hill (Princess Bride style) instead of just walking down to Dolph Lundgren being chased by a dragon... and the soldiers trying to hurriedly close and brace the door to a fortress with no roof to stop the flying dragon. Let's not forget Munro and Lundgren fighting each other with a flashlight and frying pan, respectively.

As is usually the case with Uwe Boll films, nothing makes much sense. But the difference here (and with the first film, as well) is that it seems both Boll and the cast are in on the joke. Everybody seems to be rolling with the stupidity, including Lundgren, who drops many a one-liner with the tone of man who knows how silly everything is. Because of this, the film is far more entertaining than it should be. Sure it's incompetent, but it almost feels purposeful.

This is not a good movie. Don't get me wrong. And if you're going to choose one in this series to watch, I'd suggest the first one (it's much stranger and more action packed). But if you've already seen the first one and are up for a bad movie night, it's worth checking out. I was entertained due specifically to the cheese and silliness and so-bad-its-good quality of the overall film, but it's not for everybody. But if I were to base this on entertainment alone and not the actual quality of the film, I'd have to go with...


I Am McLovin!

(P.S. Of course, if it were based on quality, it'd be lower. But it's not, so it isn't.)

(P.P.S. Semi-Spoiler, but does this film's twist mean that Jason Statham is Dolph Lundgren's father? That's... odd.)