'King' fails to hail adoration
Amanda Vicars
Issue date: 1/17/08 Section: The Scene
Walking into the theatre, I really couldn't have known much about the movie, "In the Name of the King." It looked professional, at least in the few previews put out.
An all star cast, including Leelee Sobieski ("The Glass House," "Joan of Arc") and Matthew Lillard ("13 Ghosts") gave the film pre-viewing credibility. However, the best thing to be said about the entire viewing experience is that the movie's previews were good.
Ray Liotta played Gallian, a craze-driven sorcerer who used his magic to betray an entire kingdom. He created an animal/alien army called the Krug to fight the citizens and knights of the kingdom.
The Krug were hideous and hardly believable characters whose sole purpose was to search and destroy. They couldn't be defeated by the king, Konreid (Burt Reynolds, yes I did say Burt Reynolds), and his armies, even for a day, because Liotta would use his "magic" to create a new army from the ground.
Thirty minutes into the film I was ready to sneak out of the theatre and into another movie, however, my mother, the pious woman she is, didn't want to cheat the theatre.
I was forced to sit through two hours of Reynolds' emotionless face, no doubt due to his recurrent face-lifts, and the ridiculous antics of Lillard, who played the underhanded, spoiled nephew prince whose every move was based on the sole goal of obtaining the crown.
All he did was eat, drink and suck up to both the king and sorcerer. There's the word for it, "suck," that's what he did.
If you think that's bad. I threw up more than a little in my mouth watching the would- be romance of Sobieski (Muriella) and Liotta as they met in secret, and oddly made out.
It looked painful. Liotta has seen better days, how old is he now? I'm not sure he's been in anything since "Corrina, Corrina," (which I loved by the way). And Sobieski is an amazing actress, but she threw her talent aside to play a misguided, weakling daughter who spends the movie trying to prove she is capable to fight. Ha, a band of tree fairies catch Lillard and she takes credit. What a heroine, more like, what a joke.
The only good actor in the film was a little known actor, Jason Statham, who played a farmer/unknown son of the king, who bravely fought for his family and crops and saved the whole kingdom, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, he was believable, strong and even easy on the eyes. He's the only reason I kept watching the movie.
If you want to see an enticing, sci-fi, high action, romantic, fairy tale of a movie, don't go see this. It's a wannabe film. Hardly worth your $7.50.
Save your money and go see a good movie, like "Juno" or even go out to eat. But, In the name of the almighty dollar and all that's good in you, don't waste your time.
An all star cast, including Leelee Sobieski ("The Glass House," "Joan of Arc") and Matthew Lillard ("13 Ghosts") gave the film pre-viewing credibility. However, the best thing to be said about the entire viewing experience is that the movie's previews were good.
Ray Liotta played Gallian, a craze-driven sorcerer who used his magic to betray an entire kingdom. He created an animal/alien army called the Krug to fight the citizens and knights of the kingdom.
The Krug were hideous and hardly believable characters whose sole purpose was to search and destroy. They couldn't be defeated by the king, Konreid (Burt Reynolds, yes I did say Burt Reynolds), and his armies, even for a day, because Liotta would use his "magic" to create a new army from the ground.
Thirty minutes into the film I was ready to sneak out of the theatre and into another movie, however, my mother, the pious woman she is, didn't want to cheat the theatre.
I was forced to sit through two hours of Reynolds' emotionless face, no doubt due to his recurrent face-lifts, and the ridiculous antics of Lillard, who played the underhanded, spoiled nephew prince whose every move was based on the sole goal of obtaining the crown.
All he did was eat, drink and suck up to both the king and sorcerer. There's the word for it, "suck," that's what he did.
If you think that's bad. I threw up more than a little in my mouth watching the would- be romance of Sobieski (Muriella) and Liotta as they met in secret, and oddly made out.
It looked painful. Liotta has seen better days, how old is he now? I'm not sure he's been in anything since "Corrina, Corrina," (which I loved by the way). And Sobieski is an amazing actress, but she threw her talent aside to play a misguided, weakling daughter who spends the movie trying to prove she is capable to fight. Ha, a band of tree fairies catch Lillard and she takes credit. What a heroine, more like, what a joke.
The only good actor in the film was a little known actor, Jason Statham, who played a farmer/unknown son of the king, who bravely fought for his family and crops and saved the whole kingdom, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, he was believable, strong and even easy on the eyes. He's the only reason I kept watching the movie.
If you want to see an enticing, sci-fi, high action, romantic, fairy tale of a movie, don't go see this. It's a wannabe film. Hardly worth your $7.50.
Save your money and go see a good movie, like "Juno" or even go out to eat. But, In the name of the almighty dollar and all that's good in you, don't waste your time.