Customer Reviews

Lost City Raiders

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A little different angle on the Doomsday scenario. A little slower this time but still effective. Combines mythology with religion, bad guys, fanatics and some rather impressive visuals for the good guys to win out in the end. No earth shattering cryptic messages here, just put up with a bowl of popcorn and some beverages to be distracted for an hour or so with this entry in the "end of the world" genre of movies.

The plot was needlessly convoluted and noticeably contrived, the dialog poor, & the casting seems to have boiled down to "who will work for scale?" Not one single actor was believably cast in this movie, save for the extras. I put no fault on the actors, as they seemed to be trying their best with the (very) little they had. The only (and I do mean "only") good thing I can say about this is that it was "pretty". And it may fill a notch in your "gotta have every crappy disaster movie ever made" collection.

And for reviewing this "film" as "Waterworld meets Raiders of the Lost Ark", whoever this Marshall Fine at Star Magazine is, he ought to be tossed off a bridge followed by a box of ticker tape confetti comprised of his past reviews and all traces of anything else he managed to get into print. Marshall!, you cost me $11.99 and 98 minutes of my life with your lies! (Raiders indeed - Blasphemer!)

Would that I could, I would give this movie a star rating so low that it would suck the stars from nearby products.

In a word - woeful. How James Brolin and Ian Somerhalder took on this project is beyond me. A waste of their talent.

The script is very poor and the special effects are just terrible. Sound is front centered - not 5.1 as advertised. Rental only!

This movie came from a small budget, eventually shown on our Sci Fi Channel. If you like Ian Somerhalder, as I do, anything with him is worth the price. The acting is not bad, it is what they were given to say that is bad. Evidently some 'reviewers' don't know the difference between bad writing and bad acting.

Rarely do I take a chance on a movie that I have never heard of before, but the guy at Blockbuster said that if I liked Indiana Jones and Day After Tomorrow, I would love this movie. It was not so.

It is the year 2048 and global warming has melted the ice caps, flooding the earth and making only 10% of the world habitable. Jack (Ian Somerhalder of "Vampire Diaries") and Thomas (Jamie Thomas King The Tudors - The Complete First Season) follow their father (James Brolin Last Chance Harvey) as he attempts to find an artifact that will restore the Earth to the way it was before global warming took over.

The story line had lots of potential to be a really excellent movie. But, they really needed to find people who could act better. It was just painful to watch an actor as experienced as James Brolin struggle through his part. I was constantly finding myself correcting the way that the actors were saying the lines. Emotions were so forced that it was nowhere near believable.

All in all, I wouldn't even recommend renting this movie (which is rare, since I believe in giving most movies a chance) because then you'll just be going through exactly what I did.

Look, this isn't Raiders of the Lost Ark, and I know some movie rental places are bad at comparing this movie to that. I agree that the writing was not that great and could have been a whole lot better. I will say this, the actors did well given what they had. A lot more should have been done with the dialogue given to James Brolin and Ben Cross, because both deserved a damnsite better treatment than what they got for this. I think it would have been better had the director let them edit some of their lines.

I will say this for Ben Cross, he knows how to play a bad a** to the hilt--given the right dialogue. His expressions and such were well carried out here, as were what lines he delivered. He does not short change his fans in this one--or in any other movie I have seen him in. However, I will gripe when the writing is bad.

Now for the storyline itself, it is good. The plot is good. If they do make a follow up to this, they need to bring Cross back as well as Somerhalder, and give these actors some lines with friggin' teeth in them! You really don't know if Cross's character died or not the way that shot was set up so anything goes! Yes, I'm still complaining about the writing but I think Brolin and Cross's lines would have been delivered better had they been allowed some creative input because those two actors probably have more insight to offer than half the directors and producers they end up working for. The same holds true for Somerhalder.

I bought this from Germany, Region 2 in order to get an English version that was HD and Widescreen.
The description on this one says narrow screen and standard definition.
A huge shame since it was originally filmed in HD and was a very attractive movie to watch... saw it on the SciFi channel (oops I mean the ScyFy channel).
Good picture, but standard / narrow would pretty much ruin it.

I love Ian Somerhalder. This movie was worth buying the DVD for my collection.

Lost City Raiders brings to the screen the story of a father and his two sons who make a living by salvaging treasures from sunken buildings in a post-apocalyptic era.
In the year 2048 most of the world has been submerged under water as the ice caps melted and the sea levels rose. The New Vatican, located in New Rome, is searching for a legendary Egyptian artifact said to have the power to control Earth's seas: the Scepter of Sobek.
There are slight hints of the Fifth Element and even the Lord of the Rings, and strong/obvious elements of the DaVinci Code, Tomb Raider, National Treasure, Indiana Jones, and Waterworld.
Ian Somerhalder (from Lost!), Ben Cross, and the rest of the cast do a poor job in their respective roles. The major setback is in relation to the acting (or lack of it); that is to say that the cast are badly in need of acting lessons (even Ian Somerhalder was pathetic)! The acting-oh my- the acting is beyond words... School plays (and pre-school for that matter) have better actors! It is truly sad...
Another weakness is in relation to the very poor dialogues and the weak plot/storyline, which could have been so much better and for which the writers and director are to blame.
In essence, the film definitely had potential if only the writers/director had the ability to... write and direct! A shame really...
In a nutshell, you might find it amusing if you're under 13 and/or are heavily intoxicated, and that's about it. Rent or buy at your own risk. You have been warned! 2.2 Stars.