The Curse of King Tut's Tomb

I've always thought I was one of the more forgiving movie viewers in the country, but I just can't describe how bad this movie is. The "Egyptology" described in the terribly written introduction voice-over must be from not a parallel universe, but a skewed one, because it certainly has nothing to do with this one. The dialog is just atrocious. The acting could have been good -- I choose to believe this because the bad directing so completely overwhelmed any performance talent that evidence of acting ability is completely undetectable. The characters would have to be improved to be two dimensional. The pacing was haphazard at best. I can't remember the editing, so it must have been better than the other aspects of the film. I wish Joe Bob Briggs was still reviewing movies, because that's the most entertainment anyone could hope for from this film.

One of the most fascinating things about this film (apart from Jonathan Hyde's extraordinary resemblance with Henry Daniell)is watching how the plot meanders and wanders with no destination in sight as if it were an Art Nouveau filigrain.

I suspect that the archeology academics would seriously object at the unorthodox -but revolutionary- system that the protagonist and his buddies use to find the legendary Pharaoh's tomb, namely, by sitting in the terraces of Cairo's seediest bars and leaving them without alcoholic stock. Their interest is, however, scientific, except for the legionnaire buddy who is more interested in gold statuettes accidentally getting lost in his greatcoat pockets (Having mentioned the legionnaire, I must say that I admire the courage of the scriptwriter, who reveals to us -for the very first time- that Egypt was at the time a French protectorate, and not, as we've been led to believe by the official history, associated to the British empire)

The bad guys stick to the old, slow, boring system of studying the terrain and excavating carefully according to old Ieroglyphs, while our hero and his friends discover the tomb the legendary grave by happily throwing dynamite sticks at random: a new path is opened thus for archeology.

The happenings depicted in The Curse Of King Tut's Tomb somehow didn't make it into the history books. If you're looking for the story of how Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter found the tomb than you'll be disappointed.

Instead we find Casper Van Dien doing a pale imitation of Indiana Jones as archaeologist, right down to the fedora. Van Dien knows he's in a Thanksgiving special and he overacts accordingly.

That of course is nothing compared to what Jonathan Hyde does as the master villain of the film. Hyde runs the gamut of villainy from Snidely Whiplash to Darth Vader with a lot else thrown in. Hyde in his villainy is backed by the Hellfire Club headed by Malcolm McDowell. But Hyde's ambitions extend far beyond just ruling this world. Tut's tomb is a passageway to the demon world and Hyde's working with them.

A lot of talented people get wasted in this Hallmark TV movie which is downright mediocre. And the end switches from Indiana Jones to Stargate.

As for Carnarvon and Carter that's covered too, but you'll have to sit through almost three hours to find out.

With all the finesse and depth of an after-school movie, we are treated to an Indiana Jones knock-off.

Long before the Egyptian dynasties, the world was in a struggle between good and evil. A jade plaque that when assembled lets them their evil critters in from another world.

Archeologist/teacher Danny Freemont (Casper Van Dien) is in the process of finding the plaque quadrants from the far corners of the earth.

Morgan Sinclair (Jonathan Hyde) competing archeologist/teacher and member of that popular cabal "Hell Fire" is in the process of pilfering jade plaque pieces from never learning and unsuspecting Danny Freemont.

Now here comes the Hallmark part. Danny loves Dr. Azelia Barakat (Leonor Varela), who loves Government Official Yunan Heikal (Parvin Dabas) who is in love with Egypt. Will anyone get together?

Will the bad guys finally win or is this just another save the world at the last minute movie?

This is supposed to be Egypt however, it is filmed in India. Strangely, enough all the Egyptians look Indian.

This animal even looks fuzzy in Blu-ray.

What else can we expect, this is an example of production companies to make films for 'entertainment' only and not have to pay the high Hollywood star wages.Even the 'bigger' name stars are working for less and as the scripting,historical accuracy is lacking the players get paid the producers can sell it, no real quality needed. Not to mention the new actors (esses) get some experience and become known. Goood movie to watch on a cold rainy day like,today. Anyway how can every movie be as great as Casablaca or Gone With The Wind, and at least its better than a 'teen movie'.The best factors are there is no swearing just to swear and no unnecessary sex.