In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

If what you demand from a medieval fantasy adventure based on a videogame is chaotic sword fights, power plays by sorcerers, interesting CGI and arch dialog (“Release the ninjas,” anyone?), then look no further. In the Name of the King, directed by Uwe Boll, finds family man Jason Statham leading an uprising against a wizard (Ray Liotta), who is himself leading an uprising against a king (Burt Reynolds). It’s a vaguely campy, mildly entertaining piece of action/adventure fantasy.

Shelf Talk: Boll’s previous videogame-based sagas (House of the Dead, BloodRayne, Alone in the Dark, etc.) have garnered a home entertainment fan base without making a dent at the box office, and this time, he has $60 million to play with (compared to $10 million for 2007’s BloodRayne II: Deliverance), so look out. Statham, the action man of the hour, has The Bank Job in theaters and Death Race, Transporter 3 and Crank 2: High Voltage in the pipeline. On the sidelines are Liotta, Reynolds, Leelee Sobieski, Claire Forlani (TV’s CSI: NY), Hellboy’s Ron Perlman, Terminator 3’s Kristanna Loken, CBS’ Moonlight star Brian J. White and Matthew Lillard, all of whom take turns wearing armor and chewing expensive scenery. Teenage boys suffering from Hobbit withdrawal will dig this one. Fox will load manly networks ESPN, Spike TV, USA (during WWE), FX and TNT with ads; an online campaign includes viral videos and games at IGN, Yahoo Games, Gorilla Nation, Amazon.com and iVillage.