This week on Direct to DVD Dissection, its a return to a time of dragons and swords, knights and demons, as we take a look at “In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds”
Released December 27th, 2011
The Story:
Granger, a former military man, is transported from modern times to ancient history, to fulfill a prophecy where he’s considered a “Chosen One” and drafted by the King to save the land from “The Dark Ones” a group that threatens the kingdom.
The Cast:
Dolph Lundgren as Granger, a retired military man who is brought back in time and given the role to save the Kingdom. Dolph is best known for roles like Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV”, Andrew scott in “Universal Soldier”, and currently as Gunnar Jensen in “The Expendables” and the upcoming sequel
Lochlyn Munro as The King, the rulers of the kingdom that Granger finds himself in. Lochlyn has appeared in small roles in several movies, known more for comedic fare. He also has worked in different film styles, and appeared in movies like “Unforgiven”, “Freddy vs Jason”, and various crime TV shows.
Natassia Malthe as Manhatten, the healer of the kingdom and one who forms a bond with Granger during his time in the kingdom. Malthe has several video game adaptations to her belt, as the character Ayane in “DOA: Dead or Alive”, Turner in “Alone in the Dark II’, and as Rayne in both of director Uwe Boll’s Bloodrayne sequels, “Deliverance” and “The Third Reich”
Aleks Paunovic as Allard, one of the King’s men who doesn’t like Granger’s morern attitude and claim of being the Chosen one. He’s been cast in varying parts, and got a taste of royalty himself with him being cast as the evil shao Khan in the “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” videos.
The Dissection:
While the movie has been out for a month now, it recently hit the rental places, and no one is going to BUY a Uwe Boll movie to watch it.
Now, Uwe Boll movies really fall under two banners. If you know the source material, chances are that the adaptation will be disrespectful for fans. If you aren’t, though, there is still a chance you can enjoy the movie, if you can look past problems with acting and special effects.
Granger (Dolph Lundgren) during his arrival in ancient times. Don't laugh at his scarf, BTW.
This moves seems like one that is aware of the issues that people have will Boll movies. However, instead of using them for parody, like it was done in “Postal”, this one seems to just avoid a lot of the issues. Yeah, people who know about the games will not like how it’s an in-name-only movie, and a loose sequel to the first movie at that. However, there is some attempt to make a functional movie here. And it’s not even that bad of a movie, really.
Acting in the movie is pretty mixed. Nothing jumps out in astonishment, but nothing can really be called terrible. Dolph himself does this, as the main issue is that he seems to have too much lines. Some of his are delivered well, but others are hard to understand as his accent causes some confusion. If you don’t watch this with subtitles, prepare to be confused.
The story itself seems stock, but it does have some interesting moments during it. With the action moments, it isn’t as plentiful, but it does have some decent amount of fights in it. Even some of the special effects aren’t bad, and even the CG is better than older entries.
The King (Lochlyn Munro) dealing with Granger and establishing douche cred.
As for extras, the movie has some trailers from other movies on start up, that you can find in the extras. More importantly, there are two commentary tracks, one from the writer and one from the director. It’s typical commentary if you want to hear how thing work out on both sides. Along with that, you have two videos, one for behind the scenes and another about writing the movie. Interesting, to say the least.
The Verdict:
If you are one of those die hard fans of the source material, the Dungeon Siege series, you probably won’t find a lot of that series to enjoy this or call it a fitting adaptation. Those that don’t know their dungeons from their sieges, may find something interesting to value a rental. It might not seem like much, but when dealing with Uwe Boll movies, it is almost critical acclaim. It’s basically one of the better of Uwe Boll’s movies.
Worth a Rental.