El Dorado

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.

Worst movie I've seen this year...Bad acting, bad screening, everything's bad about it... CGI from the stone age... I really can't find my words to describe such a fail of a movie. And I thought Indiana Jones was lame... Shane West, Oh God!!! He doesn't have the slightest idea about acting... everything he does is completely foreknown by any ten year old child watching. It is so obvious that he is "performing". And the other sidekick, Elden Henson, worse than everything you can imagine... However, I would recommend you to watch it, C-movie section............. ......... ........ ............... ........... ........... .......... ............. .................... ........ .......... ............. ................... ............. ..................... ..................... ................. .. ................... ................. ................... ............ ................... ............. ................ .............. .

if you do not ignore than "El Dorado" is part of a precise genre, the film is more than decent. the recipes is used in right manner, the ingredients are the classic ones, the charm of Shane West is enough for a sort of Indiana Jones with great virtues or sins,Luke Goss did a not bad job and the adventure is pretty nice. the adventure, the massacred myth and the fight for treasure. nothing surprising. like each film with so precise target, it is easy to say than the disappointment is yours fault. because the acting or the special effects or the story are reasonable and it is bizarre to expect more. so, new version of a sort of story so well known. sure, in better versions.

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.

A-Team and Airwolf are much better than this though!

Adventure Movieslike Indiana Jones work, because you never know whats coming next with the situations the characters find themselves in - there are many plot twists interlaced with 'fish out of water' characters who react with emotional range to their various situations - for example being trapped against a dead end wall in a temple with the Nazis/Baddies after them, Jones and his companions would show panic and terror before accidentally grabbing the right spot on a nearby sculpture which reveals a hidden door, perhaps by the woman trying to hit him for getting him into this mess! In Indiana Jones characters are highly antagonistic to each other, providing not only humour but dramatic opportunities and interest for the viewer. You become involved in the characters and the basic pantomime 'good and evil baddies and myth' story works.

NOT THIS MOVIE THOUGH!

This has none of the above - cardboard cutout characters are stuck in place with a total lack of reactions and humorous situations. The plot flies from basic pantomime 'good and evil baddies and myth' A to B, the goodies chased by the baddies without any emotional interest for the viewer.

A scene typifies the whole film - the characters are trapped against a dead end wall with the baddies after them, Jack, the female lead and his geek sidekick are seemingly trapped and dead. But of course they are not. Jack simply hits the right spot so the wall raises and then comes down and hides them. There is no explanation how he knows to do this. But you knew that is exactly what would happen, being used to it from watching the simple plot and scriptwriting. It's rather boring.

There are no real problems for the hero, Jack in the script - unlike Jones (played as a character with human faults) he is played as a alpha male real man who can simply do anything. The squeaky geek sidekick will of course never get any serious attention of the woman while a realman like Jack is around. Jack is played as a deadpan character with few emotions who can always push the right lever or button. The woman is strong willed but always falls in place next to Jack. All this is set in stone from the start. There is little in the way of antagonism or any dynamic between the characters while the baddies are after them, and for all these reasons a total lack of interest from the viewer. Add in a few explosions and helicopters like in the A-Team/Airwolf episodes and there you have it. 3/10.