Uwe Boll. Is there anyone that can garner such universal hatred amongst gamers? His latest crapfest, Dungeion Siege cost over $70 million to make, and has so far only earned about $3 million. It’s crashing hard, even for Boll’s already low standards. But the question I must ask myself is, who the hell is trusting this man with $70 million!?
Uwe Boll’s life is a strange one. For a long time, his horrible movies, which lost money, were actually funded by exploiting German tax loopholes. A German film industry subsidy program, which thankfully has now been canceled, meant he could make movies that lost money, and still personally make money.
It’s widely known and accepted that his films are terrible, but what bugs me about Boll is that he doesn’t even understand the nature of the criticisms against him. People are not constantly assaulting his craft because he retells stories, or alters the mythos of an established fiction. No, people write horrible things about Uwe Boll, because he generates some of the most unenjoyable, poorly made schlock the world has ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, some bad movies can be so bad, they have charm and are actually enjoyable. But Boll’s films have about as much to enjoy as ripping your fingernails off.
Boll doesn’t take these comments lying down either. He has actually challenged critics that write poor reviews of his work to boxing matches. After watching a match, you can tell that the childish irony escapes him.
To be completely fair, I have not yet seen Dungeon Siege, so my comments are not entirely directed to that particular film. But given his track record of films I have seen, recent reviews, and its reception, I can safely assume nothing has changed. Where’s all this coming from you ask? Well, Boll has decided to stop making “big budget films”. And will instead stick to smaller films. Basically, I think this can be translated as, people are chasing him out of the industry, and he can no longer hide under a tax shelter program. This makes me very happy, so on behalf of GVP, I’d like to say goodbye to Uwe Boll. Let’s take a look at some of the films he has thrown together.
- Blackwoods
- House of the Dead
- Alone in the Dark
- BloodRayne
- In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege
- Postal
- BloodRayne II (pre production)
- Zombie Massacre (pre-production)
January 19th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Say what you will about the guy and his movies, but his charisma must be outta this world to consistently get big budgets and decent actors. Either Jason Statham must have really wanted to play hero knight figure or got duped to be in ITNOTK:ADST. I think Boll should right a “How to Make the Sale” or “Getting People to Give YOU Millions” book serious. I would buy. He’s a genius.
January 19th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I wouldn’t call the man a genius. He is deceptive, and he had a lot of money. Jason Statham isn’t exactly known for his subtle roles either. I’m sure they just handed him a wad of cash, and he said OK.