Customer Reviews

Tower of the Firstborn

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Ok actually 2 1/2hours since I fast forwarded through the fight scenes. I think a better title for this would be "Bored in the desert" a movie about a group of actors and camera people who are stranded for several weeks in the desert and decide to make a film.

The movie suffers from lack of plot, lack of character development, horrible acting and lack of film quality. Perhaps the desert storms were responsible for some major equipment dysfunction. It is pretty obvious the actors were a little confused - their acting is stiff and mechanical - I've seen elementary school plays with more flow. Maybe it's because the story is going nowhere and does nothing. The characters are so empty you really don't care for any of them - except maybe Ben Cross's character who you sort of feel sorry for since he obviously is a villian on the wrong set. Luckily I just rented this and didn't spend money on it. Really it is a "must NOT see".

Sad. That pretty well sums up the whole experience. The show had a cast with potential. A half-way decent plot. Nice film quality in terms of shots and technique. However, the acting was abysmal from those who you would expect the most...a few of the underlings do a decent job. The plot drags on too long, and the conclusion is too vague and abrupt. You keep watching hoping that surely it will get better, and you really want it to do so. However, you feel like you have completely wasted far too much time and emotion when you finish. There is bound to be something better you could watch.

Firstly, the movie is not exactly what the Plotline states, it's much more. The concept and story are very good. The multi-tiered story lines have a beauty to them. The only drawback to this movie is some bad acting and pace of the movie. Though it is long and drawn out the goal the director had is to make it feel like Lawerence of Arabia, which most of today's movie goers could not handle. Also this was made for TV which means it had breaks and was seen over multiple nights allowing it to draw out the story, In truth it flowed really well when you take this into account. The music could have used some serious work, but the costumes were superb. Various styles and cultures were used and mixed well. Ben Cross's character was the most intriguing and well played. The actor who played Neil Logan had some fabulous lines that were not executed well, but if a person thought how they would sound if they read them in a book they would smirk and enjoy them. There was alot of stuff in this movie and the director made a valiant attempt to include all layers of the original novel. Though the pace could have been good and they could have cut the love story of Leon and Adriel (which I'm glad they didn't, my favorite). This movie is good if the viewer will take the time to sit back and enjoy it. Heavens, take breaks if you need too!

I find it terminally annoying when "Kid's" who don't have a clue about either love nor romance rent a film and then trash it in a "Bubble Gum" review without actually expressing "why and what for?" This film is excellent for what it is, and it does not pretend to be anything at all other than "What it is!"

It is nothing more than a Desert Adventure/Romance set in a time when the very notion of such ideology permeated Western culture as a whole. Think, "Sheik Of Arabay" and such!

While not being a "Great" film such as Sean Connery's "Wind And The Lion" it is a good film for the genre of which it is intended to portray. The Costume's are excellent and fairly historically accurate; "ala" Jean Leon Gerome, regardless of whether or not they were made of polyester as was stated by one reviewer. No doubt that reviewer was part of the costume team on the set?

Jean Leon Gerome, for those of you either under 50 year's of age or having had little in the way of Art History in your education, was the leading painter of the "ORIENTALIST SCHOOL" of art in the 19th and early 20th century.

Therefore and henceforth, I would strongly suggest to those of you without such background knowledge to reserve your unfounded opinion's without due access to further study, or perhaps you might consider restricting yourselves to the common garden variety "Slasher Movie."

Might I suggest "Jason Go's To Hell." I'm certain that you might find him there?

St. Margo ......... !

So interminably long, so poorly acted, and the greatest ANTI-climax I can imagine -- long after my legs have turned to wood. Nice polyester costumes, though, set in a time long before the invention of polyester.(Oh, honey, I can't feel my legs!)

This was the stupidest, longest, boringest (if that's a word), most pointless movie I have ever seen in my 23 year existance. Do not buy it, do not rent it, do not watch it.

First of all, to all those who think only "young" kids don't like this film, I'm 48 and I love desert adventures and this is a baaaaaaaaad film.

If this film had had any real direction and been edited correctly and some of the storylines either dropped or fixed, it could have been a fun desert adventure romance. There was a lot of potential with this film. And I must say that the funny bits between Rashid and Neal and their friendship was probably the best part. The romance part got a little sappy. And the sound track is like Eugene Ormandy on one of his sappiest days. I kept waiting to see that this film was made by a church - it has that kind of feel - like there's going to be a message. I think whomever did make this film was trying for a message rather than a plot and that's why it wandered all over the place. For example (SPOILER ALERT), after the girl and her husband/soldier/rescuer collapse in the desert and he dies and she's sent away with the monks, we never see her again. I mean, why was she in the story to begin with? If I'd written that story, I'd have had her traveling with Shannon so she could meet Dr. Hogan and then Hogan (Neal) would get a romance, too, at least. Maybe. And she'd get to see where her father always wanted to go. (SPOILER OVER) *sigh* I hate it when stupid people make stupid films.

But like I said, it had a really good kernel/nugget of an idea. I'm glad I watched it because I'm going to take that idea and make a much better story out of it, I think. So, there's a reason for everything.

The movie is ok, but it runs on and on. The director did not know where to cut out film when it went through the edit process. I read a story on the making of movie the Lost Horizon, when it was put together it was like 17 hours long, then was cut down to about two hours. This one is about three hours run time and should have been cut in half. A movie is about telling a story, not the film maker falling in love with the film stock.

"The universe has no end. There is no way to measure how wide or how high it is." Book of Baruch 3-25.

This is just a standard Hallmark film which used its bevy of standard Hallmark actors and the standard hallmark music.

There is the standard dark stranger or two. And the estranged brother. Throw in a Ménage à Trois. We have swordplay, pistol play, flying machines, horsing around, poison wells, greedy sheiks, and the kitchen sink.

Deep in the desert is a brilliantly lit gold door everybody wants to know what's behind it most people think it's just gold but of course we know better. Let's follow the four hour long struggle to see who gets the gold who gets the girl and who gets the shaft.

If you're use Hallmark movies it's a good way to pass time. If not you may have trouble with some of the dud characters with the sophomoric dialog and the reuse props. But we need to look beyond that and concentrate on the half hearted message.

Hallmark Collector Set V.1 (6-Movies)

This is the worst acting I have ever seen outside of a television sitcom. Once I've said horrible, embarrassing, stinko, insipid, amateurish, and painful, words fail me.

Oh, and then there's the heavenly choir singing in the background. Don't get me started on that one...