The Expendables wasn't the landmark kick-ass, end all and be all of action films that I was hoping it would be, but at least it provided a shot in the arm if not to the flagging action blockbuster, then to the careers of its stars. Statham needed a hit and got one, Stallone got another shot at a big studio action film (Bullet to the Head, coming soon), Jet Li got a large check and hoofed it back to China to make
better movies there, but what did perpetually lower-tier star Dolph Lundgren get?
He got
In the Name of the King: Two Worlds, Uwe Boll's follow up to his oddly high profile In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. Only this time he doesn't have the resources to hire Ray Lliota as an evil wizard and instead must settle on human photoshop victim Natassia Malthe as its best camp element. But surely there must be some of Boll's trademark enthusiastic imcompetence, right? Besides a brief shot of the antagionist clearly adjusting his wig, and some very shoddy CGI effects, there's very little about this film that's any fun on purpose or otherwise. It looks every bit of the cheap, crappy film it is, filled with listless performances from no doubt low paid Canadian actors who aren't enjoying slogging around in the clearly very bad weather they were forced to endure to fulfill some shitty auter's vision.
How good is it, its about as good as you'd expect an Uwe Boll film to be.
1/5
If every big studio horror film is going to be either a remake or sequel, they might as well be as good as
Fright Night, which is the rare remake that doesn't embarrass itself by offering no reason for its existence. Here, we've got some very fun performances from Colin Farrell and David Tennent, a light touch and some cool vampire releated death. Its about as good as "fun horror" gets nowadays, with tastefully graphic violence, clever dialog, and a plot that's just different enough from the previous film to qualify as sorta-original.
Its not great by any means, but it is a whole bunch of fun, and as poor Dolph Lundren just showed us, a little extra effort can go a long way.
3.5/5
