Perhaps I'm getting too used to the stylings of Mr. Boll. Maybe he's growing on me. Maybe I'm tired and don't know what I'm saying. But, after Bloodrayne II actually had a bit of style to it and Dungeon Siege was enjoyable in a simple fantasy way, I think Boll is setting a trend of making watchable, if not good, movies. Postal is another example of this.
Perhaps it's going to be easier in general for Uwe (I think we're close enough now that I can call him by his first name) to make comedies. Some people think his drama and horror is laughable as it is. Though I know that comedy is hard, harder than drama any day. But, having started his career with comedy, perhaps it's more of an area of ease for Uwe Boll. Not that it's a brilliant comedy, by any standard. No, it's a tolerable, somewhat amusing film, but it's not going to become a cult classic anytime soon.
For a movie that billed itself so heavily on its tastelessness, it's not a terribly offensive movie and the story has a wink of wit to it. The comedy also has a few gems in there, but, as you could likely guess, much of it isn't all that funny. Though, for the most part, I can say that it's easily watchable without ever feeling boring, tedious, or like a waste of time, something I think a viewer of Uwe's previous films might appreciate.
Zack Ward heads up the film and does a decent enough job with what's he's given. One has to appreciate the subtlety of his put-upon performance in a movie that, otherwise, is fairly over-the-top with everything else. He does build nicely onto his frustration, as he's caught in schemes with cultists and Muslim jihadists, all plotitng to destroy the world.
Realistically, it was a smart way to mine the content of the game, as there's no plot there, just violence and mayhem, which this movie accomplishes with cartoonish abandon without turning the lead into an unstable psychopath.
The other actors also help to carry the weight. Dave Foley provides a strong comedic background for the film, as well as full frontal nudity. Chris Coppola upholds the family name (even though he's not related) with wild overacting as Foley's right-hand man, but is fun. Jackie Tohn is somewhat buried in the film as the ostensible female lead, but I liked her right out of the gate. Aside from being super-cute, she has a good style about her and I just wish the movie hadn't wasted her as much as it did, as you like her. Or at least I do, but perhaps that's just a side-effect of my daydream-like wishes of being young (again) and hot (for the first time) and scooping up some smart and sassy lady like this.
There are appearances by Ralf Moeller, Verne Troyer, J.K. Simmons, and a variety of others that'll make you say "Oh... What are they doing in this movie?" All of them do a good job of adding some laughs, particularly Troyer, but the real show-stealer is Boll himself, appearing as... well, himself. He's the owner of a German-themed amusement park that plays on just about every German stereotype, extending all the way into Nazism. Boll admits that his films are financed with Nazi gold and that he's turned on by children. Bascially everything that people have been accusing him of all these years. But, despite however much of a dick Uwe is, it shows he's a good sport and can take his punches too, even if it requires him to beat on his critics to do it.
The film looks and feels low-budget and the quality isn't quite that of most of his other films, but it gives it a certain genuine nature that makes the whole thing feel a little more natural. If this mess of crazy surreal shit looked like a $40 million movie, then it'd probably be a low day for the movie industry. But the fact that the whole thing looks and feels like a big goof makes it all more palitable. At least for this one, we're in on the joke.
