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Friday, March 14, 2014

In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission Blu-ray Review

Reviewed by Allie Schembra
Looper meets Clash of the Titans in the next chapter of the video game-inspired non-stop fantasy action adventure where Hazen Kaine (Dominic Purcell), an American hitman, skeptically enters into what he hopes is his final contract with corrupt European crime lords. When Hazen realizes he’s been tasked with an impossible mission involving the country’s royal family, the stakes change and his mission turns into an all-out fight for survival that takes him spiraling back to medieval times. Now completely out of his element, he must evade a vile medieval army and reclaim a stolen kingdom.

Film (3 1/2 out of 5 stars)
Hazen Kaine (Dominic Purcell) is a hitman who is going on his last job. He is assigned to kidnap the children of a rich man in town. Hazen has his doubts about the job, but agrees since it will be his last one. As he hides the children in a shipping container, he takes the necklace of one of the girls. He notices that the medallion he took from the girl matches a tattoo on his arm, and somehow, by putting the two together, he is transported to medieval times, where he meets two women who save him from a dragon and convince him to help them save their kingdom from their uncle.

Hazen, who is quite out of his element, learns the significance of his tattoo and takes on the king. In order to return back to the present time, he eneds to defeat the king and retrieve the medallion. He gathers the countrymen and together, they head toward the castle. After an ambush in the woods, the king arrives and he and Hazen go head-to-head in a sword fight. The king, who commands the dragon, calls it to the woods and everyone scatters and hides. Hazen follows the kind to the castle for their final showdown. He returns to the present, but the portal does not close in time and the dragon follows him through. Now, Hazen must out-run the dragon and try to save everyone.

I liked this movie and a lot more than I thought I would. It wasn’t too cheesy and the acting wasn’t half bad. The movie takes place in Bulgaria, both in the present and in the past and all the actors, except for Purcell, were Bulgarian. The scenes with the dragon could have been better, the CGI wasn’t the best, but after the first couple of scenes with the dragon, I stopped noticing. I’ve seen the first movie in this series and liked it, but didn’t realize that it was a series. I will definitely go back and rewatch it and include the second movie, as well.
Video (3 1/2 out of 5 stars)
In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission is presented in a widescreen 16:9 (1l.78:1) aspect ratio. Every scene was sharp and the colors were all good. Much of the movie takes place in a forest and all the greens of the leaves blended well together and looked natural. When blood was shown, it wasn’t too red and even the fire from the dragon looked real. My biggest complaint is that during many scenes, especially the fight scenes, the camera work was way too shaky. It was hard to watch after a while. If you get motion sick, you might want to be careful with this movie.
Audio (4 out of 5 stars)
Presented in English 5.1 DTS HD-MA with English and Spanish subtitles, In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission had a great sound. Nothing was overwhelmingly loud or soft and when the sound did switch quickly from one to the other, it wasn’t to the extreme. The fight scene sounds were good and the sound of the swords against each other was crisp. Sometimes, those can sound like nails on a chalk board, but in this case, they were sharp and didn’t drag against each other. Gun shots were loud and natural. The only time I picked up my remote to adjust the volume was because I had the volume too high. 
Extras (2 out of 5 stars)
In addition to the previews from the beginning of the disc (mostly movies I would like to see), the only special feature was "The Making of In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission." It was actually really interesting hearing the thoughts of the cast and crew and learning that, like I said above, all the actors, except for Dominic Purcell, were native Bulgarian. This made their accents authentic and the whole movie a little more believable to me. I enjoyed watching this special feature more than I thought.
Summary (3 out of 5 stars)
The third in a series, In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission was a good second sequel. Having not seen the second in the series, I can’t say whether nor not it was better. I know that sequels in general are not as good as the first, but I can say that I liked this one almost as much as I did the first movie. There was a lot of action, and a pretty good story to go along with it. I’ll definitely watch this again… after rewatching the original and the first sequel.

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