Le Temple d'or

...of running a Jeep into a huge water-hole in the middle of the desert?I don't know, but Chuck Norris did in this surprisingly funny flick. It seems people either like it or hate it. Granted, it's no classic, but it is funny (not hilarious) and the whole family can watch it together. It has some pretty good gags (like our two heroes dressed up in priestly frocks) and one liners ("You'll still be bald"). It's a good example of efficient 80's film making. Don't expect a bloated CGI filled Speilberg epic. Firewalker is just plain fun.

Fun and amusing comedy about a pair of down-and-out fortune hunters cash in on high adventure . As a duo of adventurers , Max Donigan (Chuck Norris) along with his friend Leo (Louis Gosset Jr) set off on a treasure hunt . Both of whom are hired by a gorgeous girl called Patricia (Melody Anderson of Flash Gordon , whose hair perfectly intact throughout) . The girl and mercenaries set out in search for a treasure she's imagined exists . Along the way the way , they kill Native Americans attempting to protect sacred Indian grounds . The trio confront risks , dangers and other obstacles until achieve their objective . All of them try to track down an ancient Aztec/Mayan/Egyptian/ Apache horde of gold as they end up in a Mayan temple of Doom besieged by Coyote (Sonny Landham) .

This is an average quality film plenty of adventures , brawls , fun scenes , a few bar fights , humor with tongue in cheek , fantasy and results to be amusing ; however , some moments being boring . Chuck Norris character is a blending between known Indiana Jones and his popular role as a tough , two-fisted man and fellow mercenary played Louis Gosset -not too distant Oscar winner for ¨An official and a gentleman¨- is very well . Both of them have great chemical as a duo of soldiers-of-wacky misfortune who take several dangers that are able to overcome with ease . In a hand , if you enjoy funny stories and have a soft spot for attractive characters and scenarios, you are in for a great one ; in other hand if you don't like Norris kicks , silly humor and bemusing situations , then this one will not be for you and get bored . Passable production , medium budget by Cannon films , Menahem Golan-Yoram Globus , and poorly realized . Producers left room for sequel but as a box office failure was never carried out . This is Aaron Norris' , Chuck Norris' brother, last film as a stunt coordinator , he began his career as a director with his next film, his brother's Braddock: Missing in action 3 (1988) . Anti-climatic musical score by Gary Chang , being composed by means of synthesizer . Atmospheric though dark cinematography by Alex Phillips filmed on location in Durango , Morelos, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico Torreón, Coahuíla, and Churubasco Distrito Federal , Mexico .

The fare was regularly directed by J. Lee Thomson . He previously had a nice track record in the English cinema from 1950 until 1961 , directing good Western ( McKenna's gold , White Buffalo) and all king genres as Sci-Fi (Conquest and Battle of planet of apes), terror (reincarnation of Peter Proud, Eye of the devil), adventures (Flame over India ,Kings of the sun, Taras Bulba , Tiger Bay) and Warlike ( Guns of Navarone, Von Braun , Chairman , The passage). His two biggest successes turn out to be ¨Guns of Navarone¨and ¨Cape Fear¨. Thereafter , the filmmaker's career subsided in a morass of slickly realized but middling films. He moved into the field of international spectaculars , at which point his filmmaking seemed to lose its individuality . J. Lee Thomson working from the 50s in England, finished his career making Chuck Norris (Firewalker) and Charles Bronson vehicles (Caboblanco, Evil that men do, Messenger of death, Death Wish 4 : Crackdown, Caboblanco, St Ives). Firewalker rating : Mediocre , but it will appeal to Chuck Norris fans .

In addition to being for the entire family, Firewalker is a roller coaster ride that will leave you wanting more. Hold on to your seats, folks, because this movie's actions sequences will leave you breathless. It has it's highs and lows -- it's ups and downs. And at the end, you may not be able to say that you can walk through fire, but at least you'll be able to say that you've seen the firewalker.

And don't take my word for it! The Sixty Second Review called it "Dazzling" and "Action-packed."

Go out and rent it today!

I personally love this movie. I think the interaction between Norris and Gossett is hilarious. Quite a few of the fight scenes are really funny, while still showing good action. One of the best things about this movie is that Chuck Norris isn't perfect in it. His character fights very well, {the karate sequences are excellent} but he can't hit the broad side of a barn with a gun, and isn't particularly bright.

For those that hadn't figured it out, this is intentional. I found the imperfect Chuck to be a delightful part of this movie. I thought it was a great spoof of the treasure hunter movies. and it's tongue in cheek approach was very refreshing.

"Firewalker" is more than a bit of a mess. Like most movies from the Cannon studio, it's not low budget enough to dip into Ed Wood land, but not well done enough to rise to a major studio production. The sets are cheap and the story is not much more than a vaguely connected series of scenes referencing better films--but I think the filmmakers were well aware of these and other shortcomings and set a self effacing, tongue in cheek tone from the start. Though as sloppy and slapdash as most of director J. Lee Thompson's other 80's efforts, "Firewalker" shows Thompson turning these attributes to his advantage and giving us a breezy, goofy, self-aware-yet-totally-clueless, low budget pop culture gem. I don't think anyone was under the impression that they were making the next "Raiders of the Lost Ark," they just wanted to give us some old fashioned fun. I mean, an Academy Award winner costarring with CHUCK NORRIS? How could it not be great in its own way? And while we're on the subject, this is one of the few films where you couldn't call Norris "Old Stone Face." In this film Chuck gives one of his liveliest, most natural performances ever--almost charming. Too bad he didn't work with Thompson more often.