El Dorado

Jack Wilder (Shane West, "Nikita") teams up with Maria Martinez (Natalie Martinez) and the computer expert Gordon (Elden Henson, "Mockingjay") to search for El Dorado, the city of gold. Mercenary Grissom (Luke Goss) is supposed to stop him by all means, because the gold owners fear for a drop in value of their gold if a huge additional amount gets on the market. This is not making any sense, because historical artifacts would be locked into a museum, not molten and sold on the regular market, but anyway, it gives the villain the big advantage that he needs not to steal the artifacts, only destroy them, which allows more firepower. Grissom tries a partnership with General Mata (Julio Oscar Mechoso), Jack Wilder also gets an offer he can't refuse, and soon we have at least 4 different parties pursuing and fighting each other over the gold before it's even been found...

In the first half, they try at least to set up a story, but in the second half they give up and fill the time with explosions, gun battles and car chases. Given the poor effects and poor acting (especially Shane West seems to be limited to staring at a certain angle which makes his forehead look impressive), entertainment at a very mediocre level. If you are looking for a good Indiana Jones rip-off, look elsewhere.

I am a total sucker for adventure movies. I have watched all the best of them; Indiana Jones; Romancing the Stone; National Treasure; The Da Vinci Code; King Solomon's Mines; Jewel of the Nile. And now I have watched one of the poorest attempts at replicating them: El Dorado.

As it say's in my headline summary "El Dorado" is based on a very poor script where the "archaeology" plays an extremely small role. Because of that it seems that the director has decided on filling the very obvious plot holes with endless and pointless chases, shoot outs and ever changing hostage and blackmail situations. The problem is that no matter what happens and how many twists are used to try to confuse or shock the viewer we always know what is going to happen long before it does and all of the smoke, screens and mirrors never really cover up the fact, that there really isn't much of a story to engage in.

These shortcomings are furthermore enhanced by the very poor acting displayed by the majority of the actors. Some of the minor supporting actors are actually quite good, but they just can't carry the weight of the rest of the cast and the very poor script.

Add to that the lacking of either skill or vision (possibly both) in the special effects/CGI section of the production crew. The CGI portions of the movie (especially the ending) are so bad, that most people would expect more from the graphics of a 10 year old, cheap PC game.

On top of all these shortcomings comes the ending of the movie which I will not reveal. I just want to say that it is bad. Very bad. In fact so bad and so badly thought through, that you can't help but wonder how (in actual history) the Incans could have possibly lost to the Spanish when they had such great powers on their side.

It seems to me that the best part of the movie is actually the stunts and chases which are rather imaginative and well performed, so if you like that, you might like the movie - it's actually the reason why I gave the movie 3 instead of just 1 star...

So just to sum it up, El Dorado is a very bad movie, based on a very bad script, with rather bad actors, containing very bad effects and CGI and with a very bad and unfulfilling ending.

I watched the two episodes last night and I thought they were great. I wanted to be entertained and I was. Exciting story; yes very similar to Indiana Jones but any treasure/artifact hunting film will be. The story was good and well thought out, exciting while not being in the realms of the ridiculous. I enjoyed Luke Goss's performance. He is charismatic and those penetrating blue eyes riveting. He does not get enough credit for his performance in this film. It is the first time I have seen him act (only remember him in Bros!). The locations up in the Andes, the jungle and coast were truly spectacular, wonderful to see, especially for an armchair traveller like myself. I do not hold with the view that a film has to be 'Oscar' standard to be highly entertaining and in my opinion these two installments provide one with an excellent evenings viewing.

As Audio Engineer, the sound team should be fired! Episode one was watchable. I could only stand the first few minutes of Episode two, the audio was so terrible I couldn't bear it.

The scenery in Peru is beautiful! The several elements of CGI were so obvious - sad. I didn't have a problem with the acting for the most part, and the story was fun although I really wanted the bad guy dead from the very beginning.

But all of the acting and wonderful scenery becomes moot if you can stand to listen to it. I gave it 3 stars primarily for the scenery.

"El Dorado: Temple of the Sun" is an adventure movie in the likes of "Indiana Jones", "The Jewel of the Nile" and "The Librarian". Set in South America, the movie kicks off in high speed and never really slows down.

The story is pretty much similar to what you would find in the afore mentioned movies. A treasure/relic hunter is looking for an ancient artifact (or in this case, the City of Gold), and being chased in hot pursuit by someone wanting the very same thing. So it is pretty much textbook script here. But despite it being an "Indiana Jones" clone, the story did work out well enough. Only one thing did puzzle me; who was the 'bad guy' working for? And truth be told, at the end when you find out, I was shaking my head in disbelief, because that was a bit ridiculous. But you will see for yourself...

Being set and filmed in South America was great, because it was like you were there yourself, running around in the jungle looking for treasure. And the sets throughout the movie were nice as well.

One thing always amuse me, and that is how poorly bad guys are at shooting when trying to hit the main characters of the movie. It is so wrong. When they shoot at other non-important people, such as the native people, they have perfect aim, but once the guns turn towards the heroes, the aim becomes way off. That is so old and so cliché that it just doesn't work anymore.

The cast in "El Dorado: Temple of the Sun" was pretty good, and most memorable were Shane West (playing Jack Wilder), Luke Goss (playing Col. Sam Grissom) and Natalie Martinez (playing Maria Martinez).

If you like adventure movies, then "El Dorado: Temple of the Sun" is definitely worth checking out, because it is action and adventure from the very start and till the very end.