Hazen Kaine (Dominic Purcell) is an American hitman working in Bulgaria who wants to retire. He agrees to do one last mission—kidnapping the children of a European royal family. As he locks the children into a storage container, he grabs a medallion from one of the girl’s necks, which sends him through a vortex back to the Middle Ages, into a town under attack by a dragon. Princesses Emeline (Daria Simeonova) and Arabella (Ralitsa Paskaleva) believe Kaine is the one foretold to save their kingdom from the evil Tybalt (Nikolai Sotirov). Kaine now finds himself caught in the middle of a power struggle not only for the kingdom, but just to stay alive.
To preface this review, I’d like to say that when you go into watching something labeled “An Uwe Boll Film”, you have to have certain expectations. This is not going to be some top-notch big-budget blockbuster with stellar writing and a-list stars. It’s like watching a Syfy Original movie—you know it’s going to be low budget, poor dialogue, and a bit campy, but still a fun ride. And I think this film delivers on that criteria.
The dialog and acting was really poor at times. I chalk some of this up to director Uwe Boll insisting on no rehearsals and using an all-Bulgarian cast to support Purcell. The story also felt like something we’ve seen a million times. For example, the medieval folks are in awe by Kaine’s magical “air mover” (aka a gun). However, if you ignore all that and just enjoy the film for what it is, it’s pretty entertaining. The fight sequences are quite well done, and you can tell a lot went into the choreography. The special effects were also surprisingly well-integrated. The dragons did not look like an obvious green-screened effect.
I had not seen the previous two installments of the In the Name of the King franchise before seeing this film, but as far as I could tell, there wasn’t any prior knowledge needed. It seemed like the only connection between these films is that each finds some character sent back to medieval times.
The picture quality was really good, with a crisp picture, though some of the scenes at the beginning of the film make use of a steady cam that was not all that steady. The audio soundtrack makes great use of the bass and surround channels to bring the viewer into the action. The only bonus feature is a 15-minute featurette with the cast and creators. However, I found this quite interesting, and it also provides a lot of behind-the-scenes footage.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:25:56)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- UltraViolet DigitalHD Copy redeemable via Flixster, Google Play or Vudu
Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 3/11/2017):
Extras:
- The Making of In The Name of The King III: The Last Mission (14:38)
A mix of behind-the-scenes footage and on-set interviews with star Dominic Purcell, director Uwe Boll, CGI Supervisor Asif Iqbal and script supervisor Mila Maslarova. They talk about the film and extending the franchise, their past collaborations and the production process. Some of the interview footage is in German with English subtitles. - Sneak Peek (9:16)
Play All or select from trailers for “Out of the Furnace”, “Robocop”, “Twixt”, “Phantom”, “12 Rounds 2”, and “The Marine 3”.
Final Thoughts:
In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission isn’t going to win any awards—the story is a bit unoriginal, the dialog isn’t very good and some of the performances are a bit weak. However, for a Uwe Boll film, it is above average, and a fun adventure with some nice fight sequences. There is no need to have seen the first two films of the franchise to enjoy this third installment. This film is at leave worth a rental, especially if you are a fan of the franchise, Syfy Original Movie-style films, or a fan of Uwe Boll’s work.
