Odds are pretty high, barring some tragic event that would no doubt score an F here, that I will never see the movie "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale". The trailers for it were pretty lousy, making it seem like a budget version of Lord of the Rings where the camera lens was covered with some sort of sand colored filter to make everything seem grittier... manlier even. As a result, the "art" on the front of the DVD case is most definitely gritty and sand colored: a large photo of Jason Statham's face superimposed over tiny battle scene. Or is it the other way? Is it a tiny scene superimposed over the manly landscape that is Statham's face? Perhaps the graphic artist was trying to create that odd sense where the viewer questions what he/she is seeing and perhaps learns a little about themself in the process. That tension would be an interesting thing to explore visually, but rather than call attention to the space where the tension is greatest in the image, the graphic designer merely placed the title of the movie in BOLD RED LETTERS. The bold nearly Impact style font used is very modern for such a medieval romp, perhaps suggesting that despite the era this takes place in, it is a "hip" modern movie. It is saying: "I am too powerful a work of art to be corralled in by the constraints placed on other such period fantasy pieces. I bristle with unpredictablity and you definitely want to find out what other treasures lie within this DVD case."
Below the title, possibly added after the fact, comes the words "A DUNGEON SIEGE TALE". The font used for this seems quite throwaway. Perhaps someone forgot this was a dungeon siege tale and was reminded. It seems like an odd thing to advertise anyways. I am aware that this movie is based on a videogame, but then why not just call it DUNGEON SIEGE? The title "In the Name of the King" seems to suggest that perhaps director/auteur Uwe Boll was attempting to move away from the amateurish conventions of his earlier work and also the stigma of being a videogame movie director. "This movie is no longer a Dungeon Siege movie. It is now a visionary fantasy epic by me, Uwe Boll! It is its own being!" And then maybe somebody saw the movie and the "A DUNGEON SIEGE MOVIE" got stamped on the case. Having this as a subtitle lends to the case a terrifying assumption that perhaps there will be a series of movies that are DUNGEON SIEGE TALES. I would rather not think about that now though. Next to the gigantic head of Jason Statham is the words "Jason Statham". Perhaps in case you did not know he was in the movie.
At the very center of the case is a review blurb calling this "A Grand, Epic Adventure." Well really it is in all caps like this: "A GRAND, EPIC ADVENTURE", but I am assuming the critic from Cinemablend.com did not actually yell this out. Either way, I will probably never read Cinemablend.com as a result of this.
On the back of the case is a paragraph about the movie which curves around a photo of Jason Statham, again looking manly. Below him is the standard row of stills from the movie. Each one seems to be of a persons face looking stern or angry. All are comical.
This case seems to advertise: "Buy this movie if you want a manly fantasy adventure starring Jason Statham. As a bonus, I am an awful movie." I'm sure the people who put out the DVD wanted the former advertised more than the latter. Unfortunately, both are in full force here.
Grade: C+
-Ben
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