In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds (2011)

Directed by: Uwe Boll | 92 minutes | action, drama, adventure, fantasy | Actors: Dolph Lundgren, Lochlyn Munro, Natassia Malthe, Christina Jastrzembska, Aleks Paunovic, Natalia Guslistaya, Elisabeth Rosen, Michael Adamthwaite, Michaela Mann, Noah Beggs, Mike Antonakos, Heather Doerksen, Michael Teigen, Adam Bloch, Reese Alexander, Sean Campbell, Christopher Rosamond, Jamie Switch, Alexandra Robinson

‘In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds’ is an adaptation of a computer game and was directed by Uwe Boll. Actually, the sentence above is already a mini review in itself, because if there are two things that almost never guarantee quality, it is films based on video games and films based on Uwe Boll. Just so you know.

In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds revolves around war veteran Granger (Dolph Lundgren). The former Special Forces member works as a children’s sports teacher in a modest dojo in Vancouver. He is not very happy, because his war past continues to haunt him. When suddenly attacked by a band of masked bandits, Granger is rescued by a woman and teleported to the Middle Ages. There the blond warrior is received as a hero and seen as a Messiah who can defeat an evil sorcerer.

Well. The story can’t be called original, but that doesn’t matter much. That is, if the film is entertaining and well presented. Boll unfortunately lives up to its dubious reputation. The story is rather muddled, the cast doesn’t excel at anything and the action scenes also leave a lot to be desired. It must be said that the German film maker is getting better. The fight scenes have a certain choreography and are portrayed fairly clearly. That the fights are very short lived and not exactly exciting to watch is a shame.

The biggest flaw of the film is the lack of passion and enthusiasm. This film was made purely for the money and no one makes a secret of that. Boll sees dozens of such game film adaptations per year, which are all equally interchangeable. The cast throws a hat on it and little attention has been paid to the scripts and ‘jokes’. It’s all so easygoing. Nobody seems to enjoy it.

Lundgren lacks any kind of charisma to carry the film. His one-liners are too bad for words and the monotonous way in which he delivers the cringe-inducing sentences doesn’t make it any better. ‘In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds’ is just boring. Deadly even. So another great ‘Game Over’ for Boll. Unfortunately, this best man seems to have a lot of ‘continues’…