I think most of the actors are on to him and they know Boll will use a bad take or not get enough takes to show the actors in a good light. So, they make sure to give it their all in every take and not phone it in since they would get branded as bad actors due to Boll's stench rubbing off onto them. Basically, Boll will throw his actors to the dogs to keep his budget down and only cares about having their names on the cast list to incite opening weekend and DVD sales.
Leelee Sobieski has particular troubles. She simply needs a strong director to bring her talents out. It has been proven before by Kubrick and a few others that there is a talent but it needs a certain amount of coaxing. Likely, she was cast because she can ride and fight (probably learned while working on a made-for-television Joan of Arc film).
Liotta is not a bad actor, just very, very miscast in the role and lacking a director who can work disparate parts into a unified whole (tough to do but not impossible).
On the latter score, note the other obvious dilect problems between relatives and the odd actor whose own accent is just out of place. Note the over-the-top Lillard directed in the same scenes with the understated Reynolds. Note the ninjas and Cirque du Soleil Elves. Also, note the only two black people in all the realms. Are these exotic foreigners who come from afar to work in this kingdom?
The sets and set dressings rocked, even if the number of outbuildings seemed sparse in the town scenes. Gallian's inner sanctum was nicely decked out, and most of the interiors were well-designed and accoutred. However, also note the very large round boulders that all happen to concregate near hilltops.
Costumes were acceptable, if cheap in regard to the Krugs armor. Admittedly there was some clever camera work used to keep us believeing the Krug were more fierce than they would have appeared in static shots, and the numbers in the armies were kept believably large due to some of the angles chosen.
The soundtrack was horribly out of touch with the action of the movie, often rising and drowning out the dialogue. I recall one moment where the music for the battle sequence seemed somewhat somber then the funeral sequence that followed included a frenetic composition that totally blew the moment.
Much of the dialogue was cliche or out of step with the scenes, and not in a way that allows the tension to be broken by some comic relief or for the tension to be heightened by characters speaking with irony in the face of danger or despair. Just not in tune with a relative building of scenes. The pacing of almost every scene should have been picked up and about a third of what I witnessed could have easily been cut or saved for the DVD release, but that would have left about one hour and fifteen minutes worth of actual movie for the big screen.
Anyway, another crapfest from Boll, IMO, made only slightly more tolerable because some of the acting talent made a point of not just taking a paycheck this time.