A Canadian lumber mill takes the place of a South Pacific island, zombie mercenaries stand-in for hulking mutants and Jack Carver has a German accent, but enough connects the movie to the game to call Far Cry a fairly faithful videogame adaptation. Fans won’t be pleased, though, since notorious director Uwe Boll is at the helm.

Charter boat captain Jack Carver (Til Schweiger) takes journalist Valerie Cardinal (Emmanuelle Vaugier) to an assignment on a remote island. Of course the island hides a secret lab where an evil scientist is creating an unstoppable army (X-Men comics warned us about Canada’s scientific villainy). Valerie is captured and Jack’s boat is blown up so Jack enters reluctant hero mode.

In a series of set pieces, Jack dodges explosions and kills mercenaries, while escaping capture and rescuing the girl. If you’ve seen Inglourious Basterds, you’ll remember Schweiger as the badass Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz. Schweiger is a credible action hero making Far Cry a credible action movie. Uwe Boll seems to be aiming for a 1980s action movie vibe – elevating Valerie to love interest and pairing Jack with a comedy relief providing sidekick (Boll regular Chris Coppola as the tagalong “Food-guy”).

While Boll is usually reviled for his directorial choices, most of Far Cry’s flaws stem from what looks like a Syfy level budget. The game was lauded for its stunning visuals; the movie, not so much. Jack Carver’s trademark Hawaiian shirt looks sorely out of place in Vancouver and it’s hard to be menaced by a villain that whose secret lair is a sawmill.

Far Cry
Directed by Uwe Boll
Starring Til Schweiger, Emmanuelle Vaugier, and Michael Paré
DVD released: Nov 24, 2009