The Uwe Boll Story

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by nashcameronn

Anyone in here actually see some of his movies? I think the only one I've seen is Rampage and its been awhile.

I've seen too many.

BloodRayne was probably the first of his I saw. I knew it would be trashy and bad, I could tell just from the cover. The film delivered for all the wrong reasons, lol. I'd still call it a guilty pleasure, but it is extraordinarily bad.

BloodRayne 2 bored me to tears and for a while I deemed it the worst movie I've ever seen. BloodRayne 3 is the one that finally aligned itself with the source material, but by then the damage was done and I don't think anybody really gave a darn (although I found it watchable and Natassia Malthe is hot).

Blubberella was a parody film of the BloodRayne franchise..nobody asked for it but why the heck not? Boll's work can actually be pretty amusing when it's intentional comedy, and this one was a hit-and-a-miss really. Pretty weird sense of humor though.

In the Name of the King is a wannabe LOTR that feels long, cliched, and droll. The only thing I really remember is Kristanna Lokken swinging from vines. I saw ITNOTK 2 and it sucked. Never bothered with #3, don't really want to.

Seed was a film I kinda dug for all the wrong reasons, but on a recent rewatch I realized it was bleak, exploitative, and disturbingly nihilistic.

House of the Dead is one of his "so bad it's good" kind of films, but I don't remember much about it.

Alone in the Dark was a weird watch. Half action, half horror, tonal inconsistencies ensue. I remember the last shot--the camera just kinda zooms in on the main character, I think suggesting that some monster got him, but it kinda made it look like a drunken cameraman ambushed him instead.

Far Cry--yes, Boll made a movie based on this video game. I actually found this one watchable--there's an attempt at likable characters, humor, action. Still falls short, especially in context of the original games.

One of his absolute worst is Heart of America--a teen drama that was meant to preach against school shootings or something, but poorly executed, of course. The preachiness of it kinda ticks me off.

Auschwitz is similarly preachy and poorly executed. Maybe a victim of too low a budget, but I think it struck the wrong chord with folks since it seemed exploitative and tasteless. Personally, I just found it too small-scale, weak in its narrative, and with Boll book-ending the film with his rantings you can tell that he had stuff to say but didn't know how to really "show" those things on film.

The rest, I'd say are actually his better works and are watchable. Rampage is one, although it's probably completely tasteless and horrifying in today's climate. I primarily remember actually caring for the characters and such, so I liked how it played out. The bingo parlor scene might be the best scene the guy directed. Never bothered with the sequels, but Assault on Wall Street was pretty much more of the same.

Tunnel Rats seems to be regarded as one of his better films, but I don't remember anything about it--it just struck me as bland.

Darfur, I remember appreciating as one of his best films. It's surprisingly watchable and has a little oomph to its narrative impact.

Then there's Postal, the one movie I once considered his best but not anymore. As a crass, tasteless comedy, the film succeeds in what it wants to do and I found it surprisingly entertaining (and I liked Zack Ward, he needed to be in more stuff). Can't say I agree on some of its bizarre political insinuations, but it is probably Boll's most entertaining work.

And that's all I've seen. Haven't seen a Boll film in quite a few years, and I have no plans to anytime soon.