Now I’m not sure just how many people asked for, or even wanted, a sequel to the 2007 Jason Statham movie (In The Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale), but given the absurdly poor quality of In The Name of the King 2: Two Worlds, I’m sure they’ll wish they hadn’t.
Dolph Lundgren’s been a Universal Soldier, killed Apollo Creed, given Rocky a beating, and has even become one of The Expendables, but In The Name of the King 2: Two Worlds (which see’s him replacing action star Jason Statham as the lead) is far from one of his finest roles; in fact he turned down the role at one point, and only agreed to star in returning director Uwe Boll’s second attempt at a decent modern-day-hard-man-meets-medieval-swords action movie when he and his wife decided to get a divorce, and he realised he needed a bit more cash.
So while taking the role of Granger; the former Special Forces soldier, who spends his time teaching martial arts in Vancouver before he gets suddenly transported to a medieval fantasy land and has to not only try and kill the leader of a people known as ‘the dark ones’ (Christina Jastrzembska, Twilight: New Moon), but save an entire kingdom if he’s to get back to his own time; may not have been Lundgren’s best move, it was certainly one of Boll’s rare wise decisions; as Lundgren is clearly the best thing in the entire film.
In The Name of the King 2: Two Worlds is peppered with bad direction, totally wooden acting, unconvincing scenery, and awful special effects (the laughable CGI dragon really has to be seen to be believed), even the plot is boring, and it’s not helped by cheesy dialogue, below-par execution, and the general feeling that nobody really cared for this film at all; least of all Dolph, who should have been riding a bit of a high, coming off the release of The Expendables, but unfortunately took his career back in a direction it should never have gone to begin with (down a road littered with best-forgotten, direct-to-video, tat).
It may not be a surprise therefore to learn that In The Name of the King 2 is, in a word, shit. The concept is far from original (and still practically always executed poorly), the direction is terrible, and the entire movie is so tedious it seems it’s only useful as a substitute for valium. Sure Dolph Lundgren may not be terrible, but it’s clear the man who once played He-Man is now long past his heyday, and as In The Name of the King 2 falls on pretty much the same level as Universal Soldier: Regeneration, you’re much better off re-watching one of Dolph’s classic releases (Universal Soldier, Rocky IV, or The Punisher would be top of my list), re-watching a modern action classic that’s not only awesome, but has a decent showing from Dolph (The Expendables), or waiting for the release of The Expendables 2, because not only is In The Name of the King 2: Two Worlds terrible, but if it wasn’t for Dolph Lundgren, it wouldn’t have even made it to DVD.
