Treasure Raiders

After seeing the first scenes of this film I thought I made a new discovery, but my disappointment settled early on. I didn't expect anything special, and so it wasn't. This movie has some of the most unrealistic and wannabe acting I've seen. The characters are false, and the interaction between them is like in a cheap soap opera. The situations created are far from being credible and with a mixture of some superficial special effects, some scenes look really funny, far from their original purpose. Overall it's one of those bad movies in which you have the idea that you know all the way what's gonna happen, and it happens. It has many dead scenes, the plot is too predictable, and the important moments have quite typical solutions. I had the patience to see it until the end, with all of these, and there's no wonder if I won't hear much of it in the future. What surprised me was David Carradine accepting this role, but maybe I haven't seen more of his movies. I gave it a 3/10 for the effort, and I'm not sure it deserves as much.

I gave it a try, stayed with it for about an hour, but I had to give up. It beat me. Although there was an effort, as one other reviewer noted, it appeared the producers figured they had to dumb it down for the masses. Editing was weak. At one point, the police get a call of a disturbance so they decide to go investigate. Next scene, the disturbance begins! No respect for the viewer. And the clichés - Lord, I lost count. From your typical fight at the bar to the comment, "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you." I can see middle school kids being entertained, but certainly not grown adults. Although I must say, the character of "Wolf" had the best Schwarzenegger impersonation I've ever heard!

Alexander Nevsky - Actor - Action Hero – star of Treasure Raiders

I can't believe I'm writing about this guy. I do so because in my boredom here I had the terrible misfortune to sit through one of the worst films ever made; Treasure Raiders, and Nevsky is the star. It's like a mixture of National Treasure and The DaVinci Code starring the retarded child of of some action-hero sperm donor. I was glued to the screen it was that bad. The movie also features some skeletal Carradine brother and that woman from Twin Peaks who never really died, more's the pity.

The movie's set in Russia and the supporting cast is shocking. The script is autistic. The camera-work is infantile and even the end credits don't save it. The movie was made in 2007 and had a budget of $10 million. Ten million!

Imagine how much good one could do with that much money! You, like me, will want to lay waste to the collection of idiots responsible for the imbecilic, talentless, celluloid turd that is Treasure Raiders - if you ever have the misfortune to see it that is.

And so to Nevsky, the lead actor. I'm talking about the kind of bad acting we could only aspire to had we been swung by the legs as babies and had our heads repeatedly cracked against door jambs.

Imagine the fattest Seagal with the stupidest Stallone with the most wooden Van Damme and then add a pinch of Arnie's awful accent. Yeah, it's really that bad. David Caruso would look like a Shakespearean actor beside this guy and anyone who makes Caruso look good must be a royal, acting spastic don't you agree? Watching Treasure Raiders I wanted to beat Nevsky to death with his own foot.

Nevsky, like Arnie, has a bodybuilding background. After years spent winning everything in Moscow he then published bestselling fitness books…yadda yadda yadda until eventually…………wait for it……..he ended up in the Lee Strasberg Acting School.

The Lee Strasberg Acting School!!!! The same Lee Strasberg School that trained DeNiro and Pacino and Keitel and Hoffman and Marlon Brando.

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's an interesting fact. Jack Nicholson had to audition five times to get into Strasberg's Acting School. Yup, five times. And that was a very young and hungry Nicholson too. Hoffman auditioned six times….Harvey Keitel eleven times. That school had standards man!

One year, out of 2,000 candidates for places at Strasberg, only two were accepted….Martin Landau and Steve McQueen. Understand? See what I'm saying? And they let Nevsky in! What is the world coming to? Next they'll be telling us Drew Barrymore has talent.

Yikes!

PLOT:

Historian who likes racing meets his racing nemesis and oh ….they share a common interest in treasure hunting! They hunt for treasure. There is a baddie.

END PLOT:

That's Treasure Raiders folks and believe it or not, Nevsky wrote it!

Not with joined up letters I bet.

I can still taste the bile in my throat. You know I think the storyboard was probably finger-painted by a child.

And I get angrier and angrier at crap like this when I see how real artists struggle to make essential viewing like City of God or Das Boot or The Lives of Others; films that simply screamed to be made and must be seen whatever the cost. Movies like these save an industry that is awash with talentless Nevskys.

Movies like Treasure Raiders are proof positive that the mainstream movie industry is drowning in a pool of its own prawn-cocktail urine. Shame on the misfits who have anything to do with this rubbish. History will be much more unkind to them than I could ever be here.

As for Nevsky, he'll no doubt end up kicking the life out of some famous wrestler one of these action-movie days. He will be rich. His career will no doubt span ten years. Our lives will be no better or worse for it but our intelligences will be deeply offended. And the most maddening thing of all is that Nevsky shares his name with one of the most important Russians in history, a medieval warrior, beatified and once voted the greatest Russian ever!

By the way, read this from an actual sperm-bank website… Los Angeles California Cryobank sperm donors will be reimbursed up to $100 per donation and up to $1200 a month by donating 3 times a week. We periodically offer incentives such as movie tickets or gift certificates for extra time and effort expended by participating sperm donors.

What the hell is extra time and effort? Is that like having a slow rather than a fast one? Is that like making two consecutive deposits? Are they paying by the fluid ounce??? I wonder if you have to work a week in hand.

I was going to invest in this clinic but I pulled out at the last minute!

Just as you leave the clinic, do they thank you for coming?

Okay okay...I'm done now...

...or should I say spent?

If you want to waste your time, this is the one for you. Very bad acting. poor dialog delivery, stupid action scenes (if you have ever watched any Jackie-Chan movie, OK forget Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal! OK forget Seagal, Chuck Norris! OK forget Norris, any other American/Chinese/hongkong action movie, you will wonder what is going on here!), idiotic expressions at times. Only one villain is worth watching who survives at the end! He reminded me of Mickey Rourke(Marv) in Sin City.

I watched this movie because someone had given very good feedback (someone who wants to make money!!) and the actor 'Alexander Nevsky' is considered hero in his country. After reading his profile, I liked him for not depicting Russian as bad guy as he refused few offers to act in blockbuster movies! But he is destroying the Russian reputation by being a bad actor. He is a bodybuilder alright, but it's the acting, which counts, not just the body!! Schwarzenegger or The Rock would not have done so well if they had acted poorly.

I want my money back. Although I watched it for free, It was still not worth my time!

Don't waste any time off your already precious life on this.

Pathetic at best and I'm being generous is the only way to describe this D grade attempt at a movie.

The attempt at acting and the Russian/American accents were terrible. Story line is so cheesy.

A professor of history who is drag racing treasure hunter searching for the treasure of the Knights Templar.

It is what it is and it is definitely bad.

If hope my comments save's someone from watching this. The best part of this movie was turning it off and it didn't take long.